Listing Through Life

vireo (bird) bellii (given by John James Audubon in 1844 for John G. Bell, taxidermist who accompanied Audubon on his Missouri River expedition of 1843)

Monday, April 2, 1984 — 11:00 am

Coronado National Forest, Arizona — Sabino Canyon Recreation Area

I worked for this one, as hard as I had worked for any bird up to this time.  I chased them around and up the canyon for a hundred yards or so.  They were foraging in the small trees and bushes between the creek and the road that winds up the canyon.  They were about halfway up the lower canyon.  They spent most of the time in the bushes just where the stream-side greenery bordered the desert-covered rocky slopes.  They sang occasionally as they moved about.  They seemed more active than most vireos, which made them hard to see well.  When I finally saw them well enough to be sure of my identification, I felt mighty good about it.

tachycineta (from tachys, swift, and kinetos, to move) thalassina (sea-green)

Monday, April 2, 1984 — 10:00 am

Coronado National Forest, Arizona — Sabino Canyon Recreation Area

I had a hard time seeing all the field marks on these Violet-green Swallows because I was at the bottom of the canyon, and they were flying up near the rim. But I had time. I watched them circling over the canyon until I was satisfied.

catherpes (to creep down) mexicanus (of Mexico)

Monday, April 2, 1984 — 9:30 am

Coronado National Forest, Arizona — Sabino Canyon Recreation Area

I was still near the base of the canyon near the creek.  I started walking uphill from the dam along the edge of a steep rock-strewn wall.  The Canyon Wren was about 20 feet above the creek.  It hopped up onto a rock, just above where I stood, sang for a while, then hopped back down out of sight.

pipilo (to chirp) aberti (given in 1852 by Spencer F. Baird for Major James W. Abert, U. S. Army, who collected the first one known to science in New Mexico)

Monday, April 2, 1984 — 9:00 am

Coronado National Forest, Arizona — Sabino Canyon Recreation Area

I wandered around by the pond for a while, through the trees and over the dam. On the uphill side, the cliffs rose sharply from the base of the canyon. Abert’s Towhees were scuffling around on the ground underneath the cottonwoods at the base of the cliffs right next to the pond near the dam. And in case you were wondering, it’s pronounced “A bears.”

dendroica (from dendron, tree, and oikein, to dwell) nigrescens (blackening)

Monday, April 2, 1984 — 7:55 am

Coronado National Forest, Arizona — Sabino National Recreation Area

I crossed the flats and came to the base of the canyon. The creek that ran down the canyon curled out of the mountains and ended in a small dammed pool surrounded by cottonwoods. The trail I was walking on paralleled the creek just above the dam. Two Black-throated Gray Warblers were in the cottonwoods along the creek, foraging rapidly through the treetops.