February 23, 2026

Birds - a life list

I've been looking at birds for well over 30 years, but have never compiled a "life list". So why not start right now and right here? I've seen many things in the past, but now all that "counts" is today. I will count both seeing and/or hearing (in the case of birds for which I know the sounds). I'll prefix each entry with a number so I can keep count. This will be fun as I think of way to "reacquire" things that I have seen in the past.

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 park

2-23-2026 

3 - Curve-billed Thrasher -- yard
4 - Mourning Dove -- yard
5 - Verdin -- yard
6 - Greater Roadrunner - the loop
7 - Western Screech Owl - yard

2-24-2026 

8 - Gambels Quail - yard, ear
M - Yellow Rumped Warbler - yard
9 - Northern Cardinal -- yard
10 - Common Raven -- Green Valley

2-25-2026 Spent 10 AM to 1 PM at Sweetwater wetlands 

11 - Cinnamon Teal -- sww
12 - Redhead -- sww
13 - Ruddy Duck -- sww
14 - Northern Shoveler -- sww
15 - American Coot -- sww
16 - American Widgeon -- sww
17 - Green Heron -- sww
18 - Green wing Teal -- sww
19 - Common Gallinule -- sww
20 - Gila Woodpecker -- sww
21 - Ladderback Woodpecker (female) -- sww
22 - Vermillion flycatcher - sww
23 - Yellow rumped Warbler - sww
24 - Cassins Vireo - sww
25 - Annas Hummingbird - sww
Note - 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. 26 - Gadwall - sww 27 - Pigeon -- Tombstone

3-3-2026 28 - Cactus Wren - yard 29 - Rufous winged sparrow - yard 30 - Lesser Goldfinch - sww 31 - Ring-necked Duck - sww

3-4-2026 32 - Red Tail Hawk - over north Costco, Tucson

3-5-2026 33 - 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. 34 - Song sparrow - sww, heard and Merlin identified 35 - Red winged blackbird - sww 36 - Great tailed Grackle - sww 37 - Harris hawk - sww 38 - Northern rough winged Swallow - sww Feedback? Questions? Drop me a line!

Tom's Bird Info / tom@mmto.org