Exercising The Ol' Birding Brain

Living up here in the migratory north, Canadian birdwatchers actually need two separate birding brains. We have a winter one, and then a summer one. Each spring you can almost hear the creaks as the summer brain comes to life, straining to identify that strange bird that turns out to be (AGAIN) a female Red-winged Blackbird.

The winter brain is more relaxed. We know these birds as they're with us all year. About the end of December though, birders start longing for a glimpse of different birds. The summer brain is stirring below the surface...

The obvious answer is a vacation. Somewhere warm, sunny, and filled with birds you a) haven't seen for months or b) have never seen before. Welcome vacation birder brain.

For most of the winter I had been living in redpoll land, with daily visits from Red-breasted Nuthatches, Brown Creepers and Black-capped chickadees. Tiny birds everywhere.

The last week of December, my husband and I made a quick trip to Sedona, Arizona. A three hour flight, and we were once again in the land of those beautiful red rocks, eager for some winter sunshine and Arizona birds.

Our first morning there, I hopped out of bed and looked out the window for a bird check. It was snowing. My birding brain stalled. Should I be looking for Arizona birds or Snow Buntings? With my mind still on redpoll alert, it took a few minutes to realize I wasn't going to find any.

Feeling like three kinds of a wimp, we hardy Canadians whined about the cold wet weather for three days. Then we made a break for it and went south to Phoenix.

By this time, my husband's cold had really settled in so he wasn't keen on a lot of activity. We made a short visit to the Desert Botanical Garden and were greeted by a Curve-billed Thrasher. At last! My birding brain finally began to catch up with where it was.

The day before we had to return home though, we hit bird nirvana at the Gilbert Water Ranch (GWR). We have been to Phoenix many times, and had somehow managed to miss this wondrous spot. Thanks to Laurence Butler who has written some excellent blog posts on this amazing place, it's now very high on my must-visit list.

The GWR is a water reclamation site with 8 large ponds, all surrounded by thick shrubs. We've been to similar sites in other locations, and the birding is always great. The key element at GWR though, is that at any given time, some of the ponds may be drained, or draining, or even dry. Mudflats! Water! Shrubs! Dirt!

Great Egret

Fluffy lil Black-chinned Hummingbird

Butter Buns

Gambel's Quail

They even have House Finches with their head on backwards. What a place!

It was brain (all of them) overload. The place was alive with birds, and I hardly knew where to look. I made a firm mental note to never again visit a new birding spot the day before going home. Being unable to return the following day was almost physically painful.

Now back in Calgary, the creaky old birding brain had to change course yet again. Did I just hear a mockingbird? Is that a Great Egret? No wait...it's a lump of snow. Oh look. A redpoll.

Having to change seasonal birding brains is hard enough, but try doing winter-summer-winter brain in the space of ten days.

Now I'm back in the land of frozen lakes.

Back in the land of snow covered mountains.

Back in the land of Snowy Owls.

Poor me.