From: tom@astro.as.arizona.edu (Thomas J. Trebisky)
Newsgroups: rec.birds
Subject: Tucson birds
Date: 14 Apr 92 22:45:30 GMT
Organization: University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ


Well, just yesterday on my walk in to work, I saw my first White-winged
Dove for 1992.  Looked up on a phone-line and saw this bird and said to
myself, "that doesn't look quite like a mourning dove", then looked closer
and saw a white line along the edge of it's wing, so I made a bit of noise
and off it flew, sure enough there were the white crescents on the wings.
One note: if I hadn't been paying attention to the mourning doves all winter
long, I would never have noticed this bird.  It really does pay to closely
watch the common birds and get familiar with them.

A week ago went down the the NWR at Arivaca south of town.  Saw my first
Vermillion Flycather ever, and plenty of them.  Also my first Coopers Hawk.
Was sitting at my vehicle and kept hearing this noisy bird in the bushes. 
Finally went to investigate and discovered a pair of Coopers Hawks were busy
building a nest in a Cottonwood right above the stream.  We had a good view
from a streamside bank and watched them carrying sticks to the nest and
flying back and forth.  Other birds seen that day were a Sora, Red-winged
blackbirds, Lucy's Warblers, and Cassin's Kingbird.

A couple of weeks ago, I got the bug to see an owl, so around sunset,
drove to Sabino Canyon, and walked up the old road in the waning light.
The last stragglers hiking out of the canyon were wondering what in the
world I was up to.  When I was alone and a few hundred yards up the road
I stopped to listen and right away could hear an elf owl making it's sound
up ahead and to the right.  I hiked along quietly, stopping to listen and
get a fix on it's position, then it was off the road into the brush and
cactus to get as close as I could.  A bit tricky to pick your way among
cholla, catclaw, and other pricky things in the dark and keep quiet doing
it.  I was able to get quite close and got a glimpse of the owl flying
against the stars and sky and saguaro silhouette, then no more sounds.
I get this close and the rascal has flown off!  Or maybe it is still in
that saguaro just keeping quiet.  I wait 5, maybe 10 minutes and then hear
it off to the left.  Away we go again, but this time I am rewarded.
I am face to face in the dark with a large bush and the hoots are coming
from just a few feet in front of me.  I turn on my light expecting to get
a second or two to look at the creature, before it zooms off, but it just
sits there in the beam of my light, big yellow eyes looking at me,
then looking away.  It moves around a bit hopping from branch to branch,
but is content to let me get a good look, and I take advantage of it,
not knowing when I will get this chance again.  After a minute or two,
I cut the light and leave it be.  I hear quite a number of other elf owls
while I am hiking along the road, but pass them by, one is enough.
And I am hoping to locate a screech owl (although I never do).

Any folks out there with experience at locating and seeing owls?  Next week
I plan to spend a couple nights out in Madera Canyon, so may have opportunity
to find some others.
--
	Tom Trebisky	ttrebisky@as.arizona.edu