Bendire's Thrasher

Lifer Journal #2: Bendire's Thrasher 

A beautiful Pyrrhuloxia. I can only imagine how its name came to take place. The guy who discovered this species probably told the guy who was recording the name, "OK, I'll name my self-discovered bird a.... P- errrrrrr HACK HACK COUGH VOMIT HACK COUGH-choke" and thus the name was born. 

When one imagines southeastern Arizona birding, one does not imagine a sandy field strewn with dollops of cow poop.

The Thrasher Spot in Arizona is a buff-breasted-flycatcher-colored, uneventful piece of land that is, every winter, graced by the presence of some of the rarer thrashers in North America, and with them loads of insane birders.* Its presence is marked by absolutely nothing but a fallen, stingy barbed wire fence  with a weathered sign expressing the four dreaded words no birder wants to see, ever, at a good birding hotspot: Keep Out. Private Property.**  On this particular day, I'd made up my mind to go check out what all the fuss is about.

My snarky brother piped up. 

"You might get shot if you go on that land. Arizona people will do stuff like that." ***

"This paper is by the Audubon society. It says it's right here and that it's government land that's ignored or something" There's me, ignoring the state-ist (statist? arizonaist?) comment.

"I'm staying the car."

As it turns out, I did get shot, with the horrid stench of cow patties. The scenery was essentially a large sagebrush plain, a smattering of green plants, and massive heaps of plastic trash, everywhere. It was worth it. In the first five minutes I spent prowling in there, a Bendire's Thrasher shot its tail up and sprinted into cover like an Arizona landowner was firing at it with an AK47.  

Curve-billed Thrashers are delightfully plain. Note: this photo was not taken at the thrasher spot. 

The first words I hear when I return to the safety of our car are:

"There were a bunch of thrashers that came here when you left. Can you identify them?"

Fine. I'll try my best."Describe them."

"Let's see. They were brown."

"And?"

"Had curved bills."

Groan. 

Arizona Woodpeckers cannot be seen in the Thrasher Spot, but they're a hecka cool bird anyway. Here's one that showed up after a failed search for Montezuma Quail. Maybe it will make up for the disappointment caused by the lack of any Bendire's Thrasher photos on a post dedicated especially for them.

-chiccadee

*I guess I'm qualified to be one of them, given the fact that I just identified a piece of land as "buff-breasted-flycatcher-colored."

**It's not actually private property, anymore, not by any sources I can find. The sign looked like it was 10298 years old. Before Roger Tory Peterson was born, anyway.

***Joke. Cough, cough, birdhurt people.