I am starting this on 2-23-2026, but decided to call the start date 2-1-2026 to allow two interesting birds from earlier in the month to be included.
I use Merlin. But I am not going to count birds that Merlin hears that I don't hear myself. In other words I am happy to let Merlin instruct me as to what bird I am hearing. I am adding birds that Merlin detects, but I don't hear with the designation "M" in the list, particularly when they are interesting birds.
My yard is on the west side of Tucson, Arizona at 2500 feet elevation.
2-11-2026
1 - Redhead -- Agua Caliente park 2 - Neotropical Cormorant -- Agua Caliente park2-23-2026
3 - Curve-billed Thrasher -- yard 4 - Mourning Dove -- yard 5 - Verdin -- yard 6 - Greater Roadrunner - the loop 7 - Western Screech Owl - yard2-24-2026
8 - Gambels Quail - yard, ear M - Yellow Rumped Warbler - yard 9 - Northern Cardinal -- yard 10 - Common Raven -- Green Valley2-25-2026 Spent 10 AM to 1 PM at Sweetwater wetlands
11 - Cinnamon Teal -- sww 12 - Ruddy Duck -- sww 13 - Northern Shoveler -- sww 14 - American Coot -- sww 15 - American Widgeon -- sww 16 - Green Heron -- sww 17 - Green wing Teal -- sww 18 - Common Gallinule -- sww 19 - Gila Woodpecker -- sww 20 - Ladderback Woodpecker (female) -- sww 21 - Vermillion flycatcher - sww 22 - Yellow rumped Warbler - sww 23 - Cassins Vireo - sww 24 - Annas Hummingbird - sww -- - Redhead -- swwNote - I identified the the Common Gallinule as a Common Moorhead using Sibley's guide. But this has been split now into Common Gallinule in the Americas and Eurasian Moorhead in Europe. This renaming took some time for me to sort out. Nobody I met (among about a dozen today) were carrying field guides. They all use eBird and Merlin on their phones.2-27-2026 No new birds, but a surprising Merlin list from my porch: - Northern flicker - Northern Cardinal - Common Raven - White winged dove - Aberts Towhee - Curve billed Thrasher - Pyrrhuloxia - Cactus wren - Mourning dove - American robin - House finch - Gila woodpecker - Verdin - Gambel's quail Of these, the flicker is the only one I have never seen before in my yard. I don't count things that only Merlin hears. 25 - Gadwall - sww 26 - Pigeon -- Tombstone
3-3-2026 27 - Cactus Wren - yard 28 - Rufous winged sparrow - yard 29 - Lesser Goldfinch - sww 30 - Ring-necked Duck - sww
3-4-2026 31 - Red Tail Hawk - over north Costco, Tucson
3-5-2026 32 - Mallard - Silverbell Lake
3-7-2026 A nice afternoon at Sweetwater wetlands. 77 degrees and with an occasional breeze. The ducks are entirely different from Silverbell lake. At Silverbell lake they are tame mallards and coots, The ducks at SWW are wild. Lots of Gadwalls today as well as a Ring necked duck and a Cinnamon teal. 33 - Song sparrow - sww, heard and Merlin identified 34 - Red winged blackbird - sww 35 - Great tailed Grackle - sww 36 - Harris hawk - sww 37 - Northern rough winged Swallow - sww
3-11-2026 38 - House Sparrow - U of A
3-12-2026 39 - Coopers Hawk - sww 40 - Pied billed Grebe - sww The Grebe confused us. (I was at SWW with Alan Koski). It was swimming in an area covered with water plants and continually diving. We could see the white bill, with a band around it midway, and the thin eye ring. An interesting bird.
Grebes are not ducks, nor is a Coot a duck.
3-13-2026 At San Pedro NRCA around noon. 90 degree day. Also many vermillion flycatchers and a yellow rumped warbler. 41 - Says Phoebe - spnrca
3-18-2026 42 - Aberts Towhee -- yard
3-19-2026 The mp45 location is near MP45 on Arizona 83 at 4500 elevation. This was in a wash east of the highway with juniper and mesquite. The Chipping sparrows were a flock of about a dozen that I spent some time getting a decent look at with the spotting scope. 43 - Chipping sparrow - mp45 44 - Bewicks wren - mp45 Now back home. I see different birds in my front yard than I do back on my porch, so I am marking that "fyard". 45 - House finch - fyard 46 - White crowned sparrow - fyard
3-20-2026 Finally, I get myself down to Madera Canyon. It was 102 at my house, and generally 88 in the lower canyon. At the end of my hike at 6500 feet it was a nice 85.
I hiked the Carrie Nation trail, which is a bit over 2 miles each way. Not very many birds along the trail and none at the spring at the end.
The big discovery was the feeder at the Madera Canyon Lodge. From now on, if I pass by there and a parking spot is available, I should and will stop. There was an Arizona woodpecker there that I saw but too quickly dismissed as "another Acorn woodpecker". 47 - Yellow eyed Junco - carrie nation trail 48 - Mexican Jay - carrie nation trail 49 - Acorn Woodpecker - Lodge feeders -- - White breasted Nuthatch - carrie nation -- - Bridled Titmouse - carrie nation -- - Cordilleran Flycatcher - carrie nation 50 - Broad Billed Hummingbird - Lodge feeders 51 - Wild Turkey - Lodge feeders 52 - Hepatic Tanager - Lodge feeders, yellow female 53 - White Winged Dove - Lodge feeders -- - Lesser Goldfinch - Lodge feeders, black hat on these
3-23-2026 -- - Lucys warbler - yard by merlin, but I never saw or heard it. -- - merlin heard it again 3-24-2026 54 - Bridled Titmouse - Lodge feeders 55 - Stellers Jay - near Rogers rock 56 - Arizona Woodpecker - Lodge feeders, female
3-24-2026 Another day in Madera Canyon this time with Ken Laue. Great view of a pair (male and female) Arizona woodpecker at the feeders. A fellow was there guiding a paid group. He was from Arizona Bird Guides (ABG). They had been at Montosa canyon earlier and saw 5 striped sparrows there.
It seems that nobody uses printed guides anymore. They all use their phones and apparently Merlin is the app of choice. 57 - White breasted nuthatch - Lodge feeders 58 - Rivolis Hummingbird - Lodge feeders 59 - Black chinned Hummingbird - Lodge feeders I need to spend some time and focus on the hummingbirds. The Rivoli used to be called the "Magnificent". That species is now split, with the other half found in central America and with a different name.
3-28-2026 60 - Turkey vulture - yard
4-1-2026 61 - Black throated sparrow- yard, pair another pair on the Yetman trail 62 - Northern Mockingbird - Yetman trail (stone house). Looked like a big curve billed thrasher, but no long curved beak. Longer tail and lots of white on the tail when it flew.
Tom's Bird Info / tom@mmto.org