Blackbirds prepare to head north again
- Bruce Glick: Gone Birding
- January 27, 2022
- 951
This time of year, I often remind myself each day has a bit more daylight. Thinking of spring and summer brings thoughts of warmer days. Here in Southern Arizona, full-time residents look at this differently. They are currently enjoying the 60 F winter days and thinking about heading north when the temperatures reach 100 F every day. I’m not sure how I would handle that kind of heat. We lived for years in tropical countries where the days were almost always hot, but in the 90s, not over 100.
We have been wondering why there seem to be so few birds here in the Tucson area this winter. At first I thought it was the time of day when we were out birding, but after three weeks, it is clear there are less birds around than usual. We hiked at Madera Canyon on Sunday afternoon and had a chance to talk to people who live up there. They agree the number of birds is seriously down. One reason may be the long-term drought that led to a poor crop of nuts and berries this winter.
At Madera Cabins there are normally hundreds of birds at the 20-plus feeders and water sources. This year I have yet to see a single junco, siskin, rufous-winged sparrow and various other species. Two years ago there would have been constant activity at all the feeders. We have only seen two hummingbirds there so far.
It’s hard to understand how the draught affects the Southwest. For example, this past year they had good rains during the summer monsoon season, but evidently, much of the hard rain ran off rather than sinking in. Here in Green Valley, where we are staying, they had a 12-inch storm last July. There was lots of damage from the storm, but it didn’t do much to relieve the draught. We have had just one brief rain since we arrived.
Last week we drove south for 20 minutes to the little town of Tubac, where we enjoy hiking and birding on the Anza Trail. There have been reports of a female rose-throated becard in the same area where we saw a male two years ago. This time we walked for several hours and talked to other birders, but none of us were able to find the becard. This isn’t surprising because finding one bird high in the huge cottonwood and oak trees is not easy, especially when the bird isn’t singing.
We did hear a different call at one point. After searching, we found the singer, a northern beardless tyrannulet. This bird with the long name is a small flycatcher that could easily escape notice. I have seen several of them over the years, but they are always a special find. While searching for the becard, we saw a bright yellow-orange Bullock’s oriole high in the cottonwoods. Orioles during the winter are quite unusual here. It has been reported by other birders in the last month.
Again, the striking thing about birding at Tubac was the small number of birds we were able to find. Nearby at another birding site, we saw a catbird and several mockingbirds, but not much else.
The Ohio and Indiana rare bird alerts included reports of at least two northern shrikes in the Wayne/Holmes area, along with some longspurs and snow buntings at several locations. An eared grebe has been seen at Apple Valley Lake, and both glaucous and great black-backed gulls were seen at an area landfill. A Baltimore oriole continued to be seen at a feeder in Stark County.
Ohio birder Dan Sanders said golden eagles have not been seen recently at their traditional wintering site at The Wilds. However, in Northern Indiana, Sam Plew saw at least one golden eagle near Lagrange. There have been up to three golden eagles wintering there in recent years, although you have to be at the right place at the right time to see one of these rare eagles.
Good birding.
Bruce Glick can be emailed at bglick2@gmail.com.