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| Black Phoebe (taken 3/6/11) |
Kino and I took a morning stroll today to the lake. I heard a one note call which was not instantly recognizable until after I spotted the bird. The Black Phoebe has not been seen in our neighborhood in months and is not a regular summer visitor so his appearance was a nice surprise.
As I got closer to the "big," lake I thought I heard a short metallic trill but the calls of a multitude of Great-tailed Grackles drowned out the call. I coaxed Kino closer, hoping to hear it again, and hoping my assumption as to its owner was correct. It had been years, it seemed, since I'd seen it here at this lake. It gave another short trilly burst just as some grackles cackled. Kino sensed I was birding
We finally received a respectable monsoon rain on July 26th, and I knew their would be a wildlife celebration the following day.. I set out for a bird survey the next morning in our neighborhood, which is an Important Bird Area. The birds were awesome. I watched a Peregrine Falcon eat his breakfast on the bare branch of the tall Eucalyptus which seems to attract all raptors. 
The Western Screech Owl also poked his head from our man-made nest box. A Tree Swallow was a surprising find over the lake, and the Purple Martins were in attendance as well . Three Tropical Kingbirds 
