Tail End of the Year

It wasn’t meant to be a quiz, but this is the only photo I managed to get this afternoon of the Worm-eating Warbler currently in residence along the Santa Cruz River at Tubac. A state bird for me, and almost certainly my last yearbird for 2006. 

Following her very pleasant Audubon walk on the David Yetman Trail, Darlene and I headed south to Tubac. The weather warmed up, the skies cleared, and birding was great. The Worm-eating Warbler appeared within the first 20 minutes, simply flying in, prospecting busily in a few clumps of cottonwood leaves, then continuing west and out of sight; it called 3 times, on landing and twice while it was foraging. The picture doesn’t, ahem, do the bird justice; that orange blush to the underparts and the brightly striped head always take my breath away.

Other highlights: a male Wilson’s Warbler, a stunningly beautiful little Sharp-shinned Hawk, handsome bright Orange-crowned Warblers, Lawrence’s Goldfinch, Ruby-crowned Kinglets doing their Lavinia act, and a pudgy Hutton’s Vireo wreaking havoc on the local caterpillar population.