Some Christmas Birds in Tucson

“Warm,” this time of year, is a relative term, and it’s been nice to huddle in the house these past few cold, damp days, dashing out only to fill the feeders. They’re well attended right now. Gambel’s Quail and Mourning Doves keep the ground neat and clean, rushing out to clear up the messy millet and sunflower we spread for them.

The suet feeders attract just about anything that can find a perch on them, including our desert-specialty pride and joy, Abert’s Towhee.

The suet is signally unpopular among our woodpeckers, though. Ladder-backed Woodpeckers, common enough in the neighborhood, decline all offerings. Gila Woodpeckers, abundant and noisy and conspicuous everywhere in the Sonoran Desert, are more tolerant, but display a marked preference for sugar water.

They don’t share well, leaving the Verdins and Anna’s and Costa’s Hummingbirds to flutter ineffectually around the edges of the proch–and they aren’t particularly delicate diners, either, spilling much more than they consume. But their cheerful yelps and even more cheerful plumage are just what thsi time of year needs in the desert.