One good thing about traveling as a birder—is getting away from the normal habitat you’re used to. Different hills, fields, streets, and parks can bring out a variety of birds you’re not used to seeing.
You might even come up with a lifer!
I didn’t have any lifers on my recent visit with my father, who lives in Surprise, Arizona, which is a bit northwest of Phoenix.
But, shhhhh…. don’t tell the managers of his community that Dad scatters feed on his patio deck and rocky landscape! Birdfeeders are not allowed, and they might not like seed scattering either.
(And me? I’d have a hard time living in a place that doesn’t allow birdfeeders. Managers claim feeders attract pigeons, but I’m glad that Dad still throws seed out on the ground. He’s also pretty successful with suet and hummingbird feeders.)
As you can see, he does attract a nice variety of birds to his backyard, with Gambel’s Quail, Gila Woodpeckers, Cactus Wrens, Finches and Grosbeaks, Curved-bill Thrashers, and more, showing up to feed.
Help me out with a couple of birds though: What is the Grosbeak—it is a Grosbeak, right, or am I somehow mis-IDing a House Finch?—and the Hummingbird? I’m thinking the Grosbeak may be a female Pine Grosbeak, but I can certainly stand to be corrected. The hummer may be a Costa’s or Broad-tailed. Maybe an Anna’s? Any thoughts on these?
In addition to these backyard birds, and a few others not caught on camera, my brother and I went on a nice hike on a nearby trail and got some other really good birds, but I didn’t have my camera with me. Bird highlights of that hike were a very cooperative Phainopepla in a bush-top, and a whole bunch of Northern Cardinals! (Cardinals are one of the birds that I truly miss with living in the SF Bay Area!)
Annual Audubon Fundraiser!
As many of you will recall, every spring my wife and I take part in a "Birdathon" for our local Audubon chapter, Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society (SCVAS).
I don’t need to tell Dawn Chorus regulars what great work local Audubon chapters do on behalf of birding education and habitat protection… but I will.
SCVAS does a fantastic job with these efforts, and we are very happy to help them raise needed money. However, the money raised here does not go to funding salaries or paying the electric bill. It goes to educating kids about birds and the environment, and what better cause for your kind donations?
So yes, this is a plea for assistance, to help SCVAS raise money that will bring their instructors out to elementary schools, and to bring elementary schoolkids out to the San Francisco Bay shoreline, through the Wetlands Discovery Program, where they will be amazed and thrilled to learn about birds that they have never before seen!
SCVAS programs reach hundreds of low-income youngsters in Santa Clara County each year. Trained volunteers conduct hands-on, in-class activities and presentations to school children, teaching them about birds, wildlife, and the environment with, if possible, live birds in the classrooms. For more information on the SCVAS educational efforts. See here.
Our team, Subspecies, will race around our county on May 3 trying to locate as many species as we can find in our 4-hour window of opportunity. We expect to locate and count at least 100 species around the bay front, urban areas, natural habitats, and open spaces.
Who wouldn’t want to help fund that effort?
Please help us with any donation you can afford, be it a large or small amount. Every dollar helps!
Last year, with your help, we were able to raise a little more than $3,000 for SCVAS, which was our personal record. Help us beat that total this year!
How to Donate
First, all donations must be received by May 13.
Please donate directly from our team’s Birdathon page.
When that link opens up, look for my wife’s name, Carolyn Straub, and click the big, green Donate button under her name. Selecting Donate will open up a standard donation form where you can fill in your name and credit/debit card information. You can also select “Anonymous donation” if you wish for your name to be hidden for any reason. And of course, if you are itemizing your taxes, you can claim the donation on your taxes.
After the Birdathon ends in May, we will send you a report detailing our day and the birds we saw.
Thanks for reading, and a sincere thank you in advance for your generosity!
Senor Unoball and Carolyn