De Mi Nidito

Luna is a satisfied roommate.  She helps me monitor new birds around our area everyday from the office.  However, she does not like Ebird. Just bird.

 Today I'm writing about backyard birding.  It's the easiest thing a person can do.

In the beginning, we moved into our home.  There wasn't any bird feeder nor garden.  To make matters worse for this nature lover, we moved into midtown Tucson.

I planted the plants.  I created a living "TV" for my cats and watched it all come together.  And so did our cats.
 

After everything settled, I began with one feeder.  That feeder grew into two.  Then a hummingbird feeder.  A thistle feeder.  Then another hummingbird feeder.  A nut feeder.  A suet feeder. And finally an Oriole feeder.  
 

Rufous Hummingbird

But to be honest, I didn't hold out much hope.  My friends who lived in the foothills, near city washes and parks would get all the interesting birds beyond House Finches and House Sparrows.  So when a random Rufous Hummingbird flew to my feeder during monsoon, I was happy.   A year would come.  And a year would go.  More House Finches.  More House Sparrows.

Anna's Hummingbird nesting in our Live Oaks

But then something began to happen.  I noticed Anna's Hummingbirds nesting in our Oak trees.  One of my neighbors reported a strange looking hummingbird in spring hover in front of her.  It had a red throat and sounded like a bell.  Nooooo.  Could it be?  Another year passed. The Anna's stayed this time and never left our property.

Curve-billed Thrasher

Early in the morning and towards the evening, I would occassionally see a Curve-billed Thrasher.

Then they became common at sunrise and sunset feeding around my newly placed suet. 

My side garden continued to grow.  But I had to deal with another situation. 

Feral cats. I had seen Northern Cardinals in my neighborhood, but how could I get them to come to my feeders?  Eliminate feral cats. One still remains.  The other 3 were moved to the humane society.

Female Northern Cardinal

Then a miracle happened.  A red throated hummingbird with a tinkling bell sound floated my way this spring to one of my feeders.  A Broad-tailed hummer!

Broad-billed Hummingbird

On the outskirts of my yard, I could hear the Ladderback Woodpecker in the adjacent mesquite trees. 

Ladderback Woodpecker

My first of the year Black-throated Hummingbird came to my feeder. Things were getting interesting! 

Northern Mockingbird

In the winter a Costa's would come to my feeder but only go to one of the feeders on the north side of the building.  The Anna's controlled the others.

Costa's Hummingbird

Meanwhile my garden grew.  And a young canopy began to form. 

The Verdin uses our tree tops and slides down for a quick drink from the hummingbird feeder. 

Verdin

An Anna's joins in on the fun making me smile.  Have I created a safe haven or oasis for birds?

While common at my feeders, I can't imagine a day without my sparrows or finches. 

House Finch

We add a fountain to the property.  Wildflowers and native flowering plants are placed around this water feature.  The water begins to attract more creatures....lizards, butterflies and other species.

I see a Praying Mantis.  It sits close to the hummingbird feeder......a hummer's nightmare.

And then.....a miracle.  My first Northern Cardinal shows up.  The world stops at my urban home.  It happened!  It really happened!

In the beginning after all the plants were placed into the ground, it looked like this.

And as time went on. Others began to notice.  My cats ran for cover inside the house.  The birds were silent outside replaced with strange calls. My yard gets real.  

Cooper's Hawk

Even the dead tree near our property acts as a lookout for others. It has purpose.

Red-tailed Hawk

Some of it also included me putting out the right food.  This was my first cardinal feeder.  I used sunflowers but didn't like the mess.  I replaced this messy food source with safflower seed. It worked.  I placed dead branches and twigs in piles behind our fence.  The Northern Cardinals started having babies. 

The Gila Woodpecker comes and drinks from the hummingbird feeder. 

But I still wasn't happy.  I wanted the very common Lesser Goldfinches.  The secret?  Thistle.  Today I have many of them in my yard. 

And the Cooper's still randomly visits......

And I wanted warblers.  So I added pineapple chunks and fruit.

On the top of our oak, I heard something rare during fall migration. Turns out this flycatcher was passing through the area.

Ash-throated Flycatcher

And in spring, I hear the unmistakable call of the Yellow warbler outside my door.  I look up and see it. I don't know what to do.  Watch or grab the camera!  So luckily I was able to do both. 

And the Mourning and White-winged Doves continued by the feeders.  I discover the White-winged Doves are the ones who are making a mess of everything.  They are also the bullies of the bird world.

The House Sparrows navigate around the larger birds.

And then it really really happens.  A Green-tailed Towhee stops by at my place for several days.  I know that I have passed Mother Nature's test.  I have officially been granted a desert oasis in the city.  All the hard work has paid off.

Other birds stop by and confirm this.  I find grackles chasing beetles swarming around the dates of our palm tree. 

The Verdins are nesting in our trees. 

Red and Yellow come together in peace. 

And the Rock Pigeons?  Well they stay safely away from our yard.  There is still one feral cat and he has an appetite for these birds.  The Pigeons learned quickly that our garden wasn't a safe place for them.

Now about those White-winged doves.....:)

If you dream it, it will happen.

I thought the world ended when a Nashville Warbler plopped along the ground near our living room window.  It was passing through our yard during migration. 

And it hasn't stopped. This spring has been loaded with so many incredible birds.  

I LOVE spring migration.  It's the first Black-headed Grosbeak sighting on our property.  This all just happened about a week ago!

Patience and planning are all that it takes.  So when I can't bird on the road, I don't mind sipping on my coffee at home from my windows and seeing who will pop in for a visit.  Anything is possible. 
  

Western Tanagers love Mulberry Trees.  It's one of the reasons I placed one on our property back in 2008.  

Cactus Wren