Mad AZ Monk

Out Like A Lamb?

Northern Arizona weather continues to be radically unsettled. As I was driving home this morning, they cut in on the radio to warn of a severe thunderstorm north of me liable to produce 1" hail and tornadoes!

Anyway, the Verde Valley where I birded the past couple of days has been just fine. We're having a cool, wet spring which is beyond welcome given the drought and wildfires that have characterized our hot seasons the past few years.

Looks like waterfowl made the big northward push. Numbers here are quite depleted.

But the migrants continue to trickle in. New spring birds today were: Virginia's and Black-throated Gray Warbler, Hooded and Bullock's Oriole, Gray Flycatcher and Zone-tailed Hawk. The latter was fairly spectacular. A pair soared low above Beaver Creek, just lazily riding a thermal. Then, a Common Black-hawk emerged low from the creekside sycamores. Apparently, this displeased one of the Zone-tails, who tucked into a power dive, missing the black-hawk by inches. He rose and dove again, this time hitting the blackhawk, who turned tail back into the sycamores, loudly complaining.