Listing Through Life

recurvirostra (from recurvus, bent, and rostrum beak) americana (of America)

Friday, April 6, 1984 — 1:35 pm

Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, New Mexico

As my family and I drove through New Mexico this morning, I saw that our road, Interstate 25, cut right through Bosque del Apache. The experiment to place Whooping Crane eggs in Sandhill Crane nests had just ended, and the few Whoopers that had hatched wintered at the refuge with their foster parents. I was hoping they were still around.

Once on the refuge, we drove through miles of dry scrub without seeing anything except a lone Northern Harrier. But when we got near the headquarters, we saw several pools of water and a lot of birds. Almost immediately, I saw ten American Avocets. They were wading belly-deep in a pond, often sticking their heads under the water or swishing their bills back and forth under the surface.

peucedramus (from peuke, pine, and dramein, to run) taeniatus (headband

Thursday, April 5, 1984 — 11:30 am

Coronado National Forest, Arizona — Mt. Lemmon

There were patches of snow at the top of the mountain, in fields and in the woods under the trees. We got out and walked around a bit. As I walked toward the car I kept my eyes open. I spotted a small bird foraging rapidly branch-to-branch, tree-to-tree near the top of some tall pines. These trees were growing down the slope, so the bird was only twenty feet or so above my eye level. It kept to the interior of the trees and soon disappeared from view, but I got a few good looks at it and knew immediately it was an Olive Warbler.

Still and all, this is an uncommon, local, and hard to find bird. Finding it the way I did was a treat.

sialia (bird) mexicana (of Mexico)

Thursday, April 5, 1984 — 10:30 am

Coronado National Forest, Arizona — Mt. Lemmon

We were on top of the mountain, near Summerhaven, looking at two Pygmy Nuthatches climbing about on a roadside stump. I spotted four (two pairs) Western Bluebirds perched in pines along the road by a small clearning.  Occasionally they switched perches.  One female flew out toward us, stopped and hovered for a few seconds, then returned to her perch.  Most of the time, they just sat and looked around.

sitta (nuthatch) pygmaea (pygmy)

Thursday, April 5, 1984 — 10:30 am

Coronado National Forest, Arizona — Mt. Lemmon

We were near the top of the mountain, close to the town of Summerhaven, driving slowly and watching the scenery.  I saw these Pygmy Nuthatches in some evergreens and yelled for Mom to pull over.  The birds were foraging rapidly on the trunks and branches, occasionally tapping the bark with their bills.  They flew down to a short stump and climbed on it for a few minutes.

cyanocitta (from kyanos, blue, and kitta, chattering bird) stelleri (for Georg Wilhelm Steller, German zoologist and member of Vitus Bering’s Arctic expedition in 1741, who shot the first one known to science along the Alaskan coast)

Thursday, April 5, 1984 — 9:55 am

Coronado National Forest, Arizona — Mt. Lemmon

We stopped at an overlook about two-thirds of the way up the mountain. We admired the scenery and fed bread crumbs to Cliff Chipmunks. I spotted the Steller’s Jays in a tall pine down the slope a ways. They were hopping branch to branch, calling loudly. They moved up close to our overlook and perched in some small trees just below us, occasionally dropping down to the ground to grab and eat some of the bread crumbs.

They somehow managed to be funny-looking and beautiful at the same time.