2020: A Chaotic Year

 Not even sure where to begin, as the year 2020 has become probably the most Chaotic Year in my lifetime.  First couple of months of the year were pretty much normal and I was anticipating new and exciting international adventures.  When March rolled around, things changed quickly.  Covid-19 was a new coronavirus that affected all of our lives, and in many different aspects.  Just as tighter security and restrictions affected all of us in 2001 due to the World Trade Center incident, Covid-19, has changed our daily lives by learning to assist in stopping the spread of this deadly virus.  Most of us have now started wearing face masks, gloves, (when appropriate), hand sanitizers, and disinfectant wipes.  Finally, about six months later, we are seeing hope that a vaccine might be on the horizon.  Unfortunately, even when a proven effective one is approved for distribution, it is going to be a very long process for people to get vaccinated.  So it is not going to be a quick solution that will make this virus disappear.  

The need for social distancing, and taking proactive measures, has greatly changed the world of birding.  The birding guides in the tropics have been especially hit hard as it stopped all of the birders throughout the world from visiting those countries and left many people without jobs and income.  

For me, all birding with friends and guiding came to an abrupt halt and I decided to stay home for much of the time to avoid the possibly of being exposed.  Then at the end of April, Chuck, became ill and ended up in the hospital for a total of 10 days and then another 2½ weeks in a rehab center.  Once he was released, I became an at-home care giver and it has curtailed a lot of my birding adventures.  He is making improvement and I can now leave for a day or two and he can care for himself.  Since my quarantining at home, I have had few opportunities to get out and go birding alone. With all the great rarities showing up in Arizona, I had to stay home and miss out on most of them.  However, I finally broke down and chased a rarity in southeast Arizona;  the Eared Quetzal.

It is bird that I have often pondered when looking through bird field guide books and longed to see, but figured it was rare enough that it might not show up in Arizona in my lifetime.  It is a bird from the Sierra Madre Occidental in Mexico and there have been a handful of reports of this bird in Arizona in the past but they are not frequent.  A pair has been reported in the Chiricuahua Mountains in southeast Arizona this year and many people were getting good views of them.  So I decided to take on a one day trip to try for them even though it was a 4 hour drive to the location from home and another 4 hours back.  I went with the option of maybe spending a night somewhere in case I missed them the first day.  Luckily, I did not have to do that and I made the trip there and back in one day. There were many other birders also searching for it and all of them were showing constraint and not chasing or stressing out the paid that was there.  My photos were a little soft since I got to see them at a distance, but the welfare of the birds is more important than perfect photos.

Eared Quetzal

Brown Creeper

Yellow-eyed Junco

I also found a way to do a little birding in Navajo and Apache Counties of Arizona.  We have had a brutally HOT summer this year which broke a lot of records, including the number of days that Phoenix has hit 110° +.  Before this year, we normally had 19 days at those extremes.  Last year we recorded 33 days, and this year we have currently had 50 days at 110° or higher with a few more on the way.  Plus our monsoon season has been a bust with very little rain, leaving the desert parched and dry which in turn has created a very high wildfire danger.  My trips to Navajo and Apache Counties at least got me into higher elevations with cooler temperatures and some intermittent rain showers. 

On these two trips, I was able to add 18 new species of birds to my Navajo County list and 3 new species to my Apache County list.  The trips were definitely worth it and I had my friends Barb and Jeanne to assist me and accompany me on my forays. 

Rufous Hummingbird -male

Rufous Hummingbird - male, with light reflecting at a different angle.

American Dipper - One of my favorite birds and I enjoy seeing them.

Band-tailed Pigeon - This is the best photo I have ever got of this species.

Lazuli Buntings - What's not to love?

Western Bluebird - Juvenile, recently fledged.

 

Another Western Bluebird - Juvenile and recently fledged.

Green-tailed Towhee - recently fledged juvenile.  Had never seen a juvenile before.

Clark's Nutcracker - Not a super common bird in Arizona.

Broad-tailed Hummingbird

Arroyo Bluet - This was a new new for me.

Mexican Forktail - Another new one for me.

Plains Forktail

Spotted Spreadwing - Another new one for me.

Blue-eyed Darner

Blue-eyed Darner

Eight-spotted Skimmer

Arizona Sister - Did not notice the little fly until I added this photo to this bog post.

Western Pygmy-Blue - Often mentioned as the smallest butterfly in the world.

Greater Short-horned Lizard - Just a baby and the next photo will give some perspective of its size.

Here it is in my hand.  What a cutie and glad I was alert enough to spot it.

With Covid-19 coupled with the severe summer heat in Arizona this year,it has been a challenge to really enjoy the outdoors and all that nature has to offer.  But with the summer starting to wind down and lower temperatures on the way, I hope to get out and see and enjoy a lot more of nature in very near future.  Just getting out into nature and some solitude can do wonders for my soul.  

Winter Hummingbirds in Arizona

While reviewing my photos from this last fall, I found that I had forgotten about some of the photos of hummingbirds that I took and decided a blog post might be in order to show some of the various stages of what some of these marvelous little birds can look like at other times of the year.  It is uncommon that one will see the various plumage variances in field guides and on apps.  Field guides do not always show the various stage of plumage molt and lighting plays a big factor in seeing the iridescence that is depicted in field guides or apps.

Here in the Phoenix area, we have 2 species that can be found as year-round residents; the very common Anna's Hummingbird and the stunning Costa's Hummingbird.  Anna's are by far the most common, but Costa's can be reliably found in the right habitats.  We do have the occasional rarities in the winter as well.  We have had records of Broad-billed, Rufous, Calliope, and most recently a Broad-tailed Hummingbird that has spent winter in the Phoenix area.  

At the beginning of each species, I have included a brief note as to how these 2 species got their names that will hopefully give you a bit of insight on the background of the names of these  hummingbirds.  Now, let's move on to some photos of them that will show how different they can appear.  Lighting plays a lot in how we see them.  The males have bright and colorful gorgets, but only when the light is refracted off of them.  Many times, all we see is what appears to be a black gorget.  When an immature male begins to molt into adult plumage, there is frequently a sprinkling of  the iridescence that we can sometime see.  With females, there is not as much of a noticeable difference.

Anna's Hummingbird 

 Anna's Hummingbird was named after Anna Masséna, Princess d'Essling, Duchess of Rivoli, who was the wife of Prince Victor Masséna, the Duke of Rivoli.  And if you saw the connection to the name of Rivoli's Hummingbird, then you are correct.  Rivoli's Hummingbird got its name from the Duke of Rivoli and the Anna's Hummingbird was named after his wife. 

 Adult male - Note the light refracting off the crown and left side of throat appear to be goldish/green.

 Adult male, but note the red behind the eye and the rest of the gorget and head appear black.

 Back looks green in this photo, but note the next photo.

 The back appears gold in this photo.  All a part of lighting and a good reason to not depend on color all the time for identifying birds.

 Female

 Female

 Female

Adult male

 Immature male just beginning to molt.

Same bird as preceding photo, but a different angle.

 Immature male, note the magenta colored feathers which is a part of the molting process.

Same bird as preceding photo, different angle.

 Immature male, still has a way to to go on its molt.

Costa's Hummingbird

Costa's Hummingbird was named after Louis Marie Panteleon Costa, Marquis de Beau-Regard, who was a Sardinian aristocrat and an accomplished amateur ornithologist. 

 In this photo gorget appears black.

 In this photo, most of the gorget appears black, but note the purple on the tips of the gorget.

 An immature male in molt.

 The same immature male as above.

 Another immature male, and below is the same bird but a different angle.

Rufous Hummingbird

Just this past week I had the pleasure of hosting a Rufous Hummingbird in my back yard for 4 days.  It arrived before the first day of spring so technically it visited my yard in the winter.  This species is a long distance migrant, wintering in southwestern Mexico and breeding in the Pacific Northwest and all the way through British Columbia and even Alaska.  They migrate approximately 2500 miles twice a year.  Pretty remarkable for such a tiny bird!  Twice before, I had a Rufous Humingbird visit my yard and both visits were in August on their way south and both birds were one-day wonders in my yard and my feeders.  This was the first spring migrant that I had and she decided to stay for 4 days!  They are notoriously feisty, and she was no exception.  She quickly took charge of my back yard and the resident Anna's did not know how to respond.  It was quite enjoyable to watch one for a longer period of time than normal.

If you love hummingbirds and you live in Arizona, you have a lot of opportunities to see several species.  And if you have a home, putting out hummingbird feeders is a great way to attract them to your yard.  Even apartment dwellers can get them to visit a feeder on a balcony.  They are remarkable little birds with a lot of energy and personality.