This wasn’t a lifer. I saw one in Sabino Canyon outside Tucson in 1984. But that was 36 years ago, and that’s a long time. I believe this is only the fourth one ever seen in Colorado.
A male Pyrrhuloxia (pronounced PEARhaLOXia) was discovered during yesterday’s snowstorm at a feeder in a blue collar neighborhood in Denver. It was seen again today. I didn’t relish the thought of driving into the city, but the bird stuck around, and I got a little restless in the afternoon. I suddenly decided to go for it. I left home at 2:55 and got back home at 5:20.
The bird was perched cooperatively in a tree along the street when I arrived. There were perhaps eight other birders in the neighborhood when I arrived. One of them pointed it out to me. I saw it less than a minute after I got out of my car.
It flew down to a feeder pole, but didn’t stay long.
I next found it in a bush between two small houses and pointed it out to other people.
And then it disappeared. I wandered down an alley and looked through the slats of a white board fence. The Pyrrhuloxia was on a feeder, eating corn. I got the best shot I could through the slats. I had this view to myself until just before the bird took off. Another birder came by and I showed it to him just before it took off.
This one is a male. The female doesn’t have red on the breast or face — just a few red splashes on the tail, wings, and crest.
If you’re wondering ù and I know I was — where the name Pyrrhuloxia comes from, it used to be part of the Latin scientific name, from the Greek words pyrrhos (reddish or orange) and loxos (oblique — referring to the shape of its bill). I have no idea why it never got an English common name, like Desert Cardinal or somesuch.
It flew off and wasn’t seen again during the remaining 15 minutes I stayed in the area. I don’t relish city birding, and I’d gotten the photos I wanted, so I headed for home.