Backyard Bird-a-thon

"Vulture tree" at sunset

Though I’ve been an avid birder since the mid-1980s, I’m not a “life-lister” when it comes to keeping track of the bird species I’ve seen over those years.    That’s mainly because I am always happy to see the so-called common birds like Black-capped Chickadee, Turkey Vultures, or Yellow-rumped Warblers no matter how many times they cross my path! 

Yes, it’s exciting to see a new or unusual bird in its natural habitat, but it’s always been more fun for me when it's a surprise encounter rather than if I was chasing after a sighting that's been broadcast on Tweeters, Facebook, or other social media. 

Elegant Trogon

During the many trips my husband and I made to the Arivaca area between 1993-2015, we loosely tracked the bird species we saw on hikes in the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge, Patagonia, and other locales, but those lists and notes are long lost.  However, a few magical “firsts” stand out in my mind’s eye when I think of those trips, such as the Elegant Trogon sitting in a small Pine at the top of the hike up from Ramsey Canyon, or the White-tailed Kite hunting here in the Arivaca Cienega.  But there have been plenty of other magical moments that didn’t include new bird sightings, just exceptional experiences with “old friends”, such as spending a morning sitting at the edge of the Sand Pedro River under the gaze of a Great Horned Owl, or having a Wilson’s Warbler perch briefly on my head while sitting ever-so-still along Arivaca Creek!

Wilson's Warbler

It’s now been three years since my husband and I began spending most of the fall-spring months here in our home in Arivaca, and enjoying the many bird species who visit our garden, which is at the edge of the townsite and near to Arivaca Creek.  

Out of curiosity, as soon as we moved in we began keeping track of the birds that have visited our property, whether they landed briefly, spent all day in the garden, or flew directly overhead.  We also created a new 2000 sq. ft. garden filled with SW native plants, birdbaths, nesting boxes, feeders, and other bird-friendly features.  During the fall and winter of 2016-2017, we saw 50 bird species.  Then during a longer stay from fall 2017 to spring 2018, we saw most of those species again, plus 45 additional species.  From fall of 2018 to spring of 2019, we saw most of the species from the previous two years plus 8 new species, for a total of 104 bird species in only three partial years!  I can’t wait to see who crosses our path in the spring off 2020, and of course this (and other things) makes us want to stay in Arivaca all summer one of these years, so we can see what we’re missing from June-October!

Pileated Woodpecker feasting on suet in our Seattle garden

To put this into perspective, we lived in our urban Seattle home for 31 full years and only saw a total of 28 bird species in our garden, which was filled to the brim with NW native plants, birdbaths, nesting boxes, feeders, and other bird-friendly features.  Despite being on a busy street, it was a fabulous "mini-refuge", and this number of birds was unusually high compared to other backyards in the surrounding neighborhood.  It brought us much joy every year, especially when visited by birds that are typically rare in an NW urban garden, such as Hermit Thrush, Evening Grosbeak, and this Pileated Woodpecker.  


Every time we visit the Pacific Northwest, we  greatly enjoy all the birds we see there, both around our little, semi-rural apartment and on hikes in nearby natural areas and at the Pacific coast.  We also love seeing birds on trips to other parts of the world, but to me, nothing compares to the “bird-a-thon show” we have every day in our little desert paradise.  Arivacans, I hope you always remember what an amazing oasis you live in the middle of!



Photo credits:
Vulture tree by Alice Bennett
Elegant Trogon by Dominic Sherony, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.
Wilson's Warbler by Michael Woodruff,  Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.