Mad AZ Monk

My Tern!

Took a tour around the Sedona Wastewater Plant (or, as the marketing folks are trying to call it, the Sedona Wetlands--well, there's land, and some of it's wet, so...) on Saturday morning.

It's still that funny August time. There's some southern movement of the early landbird breeders. Nashville Warblers, for example, are being reported in good numbers throughout the state. But just a trickle of shorebirds and no waterfowl yet. And then, the juvies and molters make some ID's a real challenge. I was puzzling quite a bit over warblers in the pondside tamarisks and now feel that the majority of what I was seeing were juvie female Yellow Warblers. The other double-take birds were the pale, teenage coots (slouching at the corner of the pond, smoking).

As I was scowling at all of this, a slender, agile flyer flitted into view--a tern!

Now, terns may provoke stifled yawns amongst you seashore sophisiticates, but please recall I'm birding in the middle of the Arizona desert. So if you meet me, have some courtesy. Have some sympathy, and some taste.

Ahem. Anyway, it didn't take much inspection to determine my bird was a much sought-after (by me, anyway) Black Tern, an unexpected lifer. And I spent the next 20-30 minutes marvelling at its aerobatics and admiring its sleek lines and snappy garb.

I drove home well-satisfied. But what is it about birders and our unchecked desire mechanisms? This week, I'm beyond swamped with work, and two major eastern strays -- Prothonotary Warbler and Eastern Phoebe -- have been reported in the general vicinity. I'll probably have to pass and my housemate will have to put up with the muttering and sharp whacking at the keyboard.

With the tern, however, I'm really sneaking up on the magic 500 on my life list (tern was #486). So I may divert myself with scheming how I can scoop up 14 lifers before the end of the year.