Strange Birdfellows

All birders play the game: what’s the weirdest combination you can imagine? Northwestern Crow and Fish Crow? Wrentit and Bachman’s Sparrow? Great Auk and California Condor?

Scott and I spent this beautiful autumn morning wandering around Catalina State Park. Birds were abundant and the birding outstanding, with not just the local specialties like Rufous-winged Sparrow behaving well, but a few surprises as well. By far the strangest find was the mummified corpse of a male Merlin, a dark-backed bird that must have arrived in the spring and spent the summer drying out on a saguaro-covered hillside. Alive, it would have made a nice addition to the American Kestrels and Peregrine Falcon we saw on the way!

It is shaping up to be a truly impressive winter for Lawrence’s Goldfinch here in southeast AZ, and at one point I thought I heard a bird call once as it passed over. A few minutes later, a female appeared in a tree ahead of us, and we found another along Sutherland Wash. What would happen if we sat down and watched…. Within a few minutes, we’d seen at least 3 flocks totaling at least 25 birds come in and drink. Wonder what the numbers must be like in good Lawrence’s habitat right now!

As we trudged down the wash, we paused to admire the diversity of bugs in a blooming desert broom, and a flash of green caught our eye. Painted Bunting! The bird, a female-plumaged individual but with a notably bright green rump and tail, dropped into the water and splashed and bathed for five minutes as we watched. This is late for this rare species in Arizona, and probably a first record for Catalina State Park. Most certainly, though, the first time I’ve ever seen Lawrence’s Goldfinch and Painted Bunting on the same day.