Natural History Journal

One of the many reasons birding is such a fun challenge is the ever-present possibility of stumbling across a mega-rarity, a bird far from its regular range and habitat that is in no way "supposed" to be there.  I can't say that I've ever found a bird that falls into this category, but last month I saw a Tropical Kingbird in Monterey county (though I was not the first to find it) and  Scaly-breasted Munias  in my own backyard, which was the first record on eBird of this exotic species in Stanislaus county.  This winter, California's population of munias seems to have increased and mounted a forward assault on Northern California, particularly along the coast and in the Bay Area, though a few have shown up at backyard feeders in Sacramento as well. But this is not about Scaly-breasted Munias or Tropical Kingbirds!  This is about another magnificent little rare bird that is far from its normal range. Residents of the American Southwest as well as Central an...

2019 has been an excellent year of birding.  In California, we trekked from the lofty mountains to the rugged coast, as well as back and forth across our Great Valley's grasslands and wetlands.  Beyond our state's borders, birding trips led us from the deserts and sky islands of Arizona to the Low Country of South Carolina, as I tallied up nearly 100 "lifers" in the last 365 days. Quite the prize: an Elegant Trogon in southeastern Arizona In Southeastern Arizona, a birder's dream destination, we spent time in the Santa Rita and Huachuca Mountains, enchanting places of unexpected natural beauty that boast a never-ending assemblage of incredible birds.  Some of my very favorite and most exciting birds were Elegant Trogons, Elf Owls, Whiskered Screech-owls, and Rivoli's, Broad-billed and Violet-crowned Hummingbirds. Rivoli's Hummingbird in southeastern Arizona Other lifers in Arizona included: a flock of Neotropic Cormorants; Zone-tailed and Gra...

While we're  on the subject of owls , perhaps my favorite group of birds, I'd like to introduce you to a common little owl found across much of California and the west: the Western Screech-owl ( Megascops kennicottii ). While I've heard and even seen these little nocturnal hunters right here in our Central Valley neighborhood, the following photographs were taken this past summer while Eric and I were birding in Southeastern Arizona at the fabulous  San Pedro House  near Sierra Vista. Western Screech-owls inhabit open woodlands and forested areas below 6,000 feet in elevation, particularly favoring deciduous trees along rivers and canyon bottoms.  But they are not uncommonly found in parks and suburban areas as well, where a reliable food source and suitable nesting habitat are to be found. Screech-owls nest and roost in natural cavities, such as those excavated by woodpeckers or formed where branches break off of the trunk (as pictured here).  They als...

Continuing our birding adventure through southeastern Arizona, we headed north from the Huachucas , leaving the Sky Islands behind us to travel across a sea of saguaros. We spent one night at Saguaro National Park and the next at Lost Dutchman State Park, solely because I wanted to truly experience the Sonoran Desert.  This, of course, can't be done from inside an air conditioned vehicle on paved roads or the comfort of a hotel room.  To really experience this magnificent desert, one must feel sun on skin and smell creosote bush in the heat; one must hear the crunch of gravel underfoot, the soft tremolo of Lesser Nighthawks rise as darkness falls, the mournful cries of a pack of coyotes breaking the utter stillness of a desert night. And so, as the sun began to sink low over the western hills (and the temperature began to become tolerable) we rolled out our tent beneath the vast desert sky and prepared to experience the desert. Sunset over our camp near Saguaro Natio...

After visiting Madera Canyon  and a few of southeastern Arizona's riparian areas  along the Santa Cruz River, Sonoita Creek and the San Pedro River, Eric and I spent a couple days of our birding expedition exploring the Huachuca Mountains. When most of us picture the natural landscape of Arizona, I'm sure we think of two things: the Grand Canyon in the northern part of the state, and vast deserts dominated by the Saguaro cactus of the Sonoran desert.  But there is much more to Arizona, particularly the southeastern part, than one might realize!  This is because southeastern Arizona is a region of transition, where four major ecosystems come together, the lines defining and separating them far less rigid than on a map.  Here are the southern reaches of the Rocky Mountains, the influences of which are seen most strongly in the plant life at higher elevations, which includes familiar conifers like Douglas fir, white fir and ponderosa pine.  Here too is the n...

Riparian forests are invaluable in all regions and climates around the world, but as one might imagine, they are especially critical in arid regions like southeastern Arizona.  While a plethora of bird species cluster along the rivers, breeding in the complex, multi-level gallery forests, even more incorporate these riparian corridors into their migratory pathways.  With this in mind, I knew that a good portion of our time birding in southeastern Arizona would need to be spent along such rivers, and we found a few locations that lived up to their reputations as particularly good spots to find neat birds. (In case you missed it, in Part I of this series, we visited  Madera Canyon .) The San Pedro River, near Sierra Vista The Santa Cruz River, which we visited near Tubac, has its headwaters in high grasslands to the east of the town of Patagonia.  From there, it flows south into Mexico before changing its course to flow north past Tucson where it eventually ...