2025 Birdathon in Support of Tucson Bird Alliance

Our team is looking forward to your support

I have participated in this fundraiser for a number of years now with a group of friends who meet monthly to bird at a local golf course. You can read about our team and donate to us here The Tucson Bird Alliance (formerly known as Tucson Audubon Society) works to protect birds, protect habitat, and provide education to ensure that birds can be enjoyed by all for generations to come.

Here are some of the birds we saw at this golf course a few weeks ago as we "scouted" the location for our birdathon date later in April. The golf course sits adjacent to a large expanse of desert, so desert animals like this Curve-billed Thrasher are present.

And of course, if you have cholla cactus, you are sure to have Cactus Wrens. It looks as if this Cactus Wren has the back of a Stegosaurus, thanks to the cactus spines behind the bird!

This course has many acres of water, attracting wintering ducks annually. By the time of our recent visit, most of the ducks had already begun their spring migration back north. A few Canvasback stuck around. I'm not sure what they were waiting for but I am certain they will not be there when we return in late April.

Every spring, a few Black-crowned Night Herons set up nests in one particular large pond. We saw this one flying around the course.

Also every year several Spotted Sandpipers live on the course, generally staying on the edges of the water. This one was working its way through the fairway in search of food and it found a juicy earthworm.

It seemed to want to brag about the huge worm it found and ate!! Spotted Sandpipers lose the spots on their breast outside of breeding season. They can be easy to identify along the shoreline as they bob their tails constantly while they walk.

Black Phoebes forage for insects over or near water. This one was perched on a rock alongside a creek. They seem to be dressed so formally.

It is springtime and we saw many Killdeer in pairs. The females were intent on attracting the males. In the shot below, the male Killdeer in the front was doing a good job of ignoring the female behind him. You can see her raising her tail to solicit his attention.

Killdeer are common throughout the United States. They are shorebirds that you can see without going to the beach. They are found in fields, pastures,lawns, golf courses, etc. The female below was separated from her partner, who went on ahead of her.

Still, she worked diligently to attract him by often displaying her "come hither" pose. She followed him across the fairway, stopping frequently to crouch down, tip forward and raise her tail end. Each breeding pair of birds will create a nest directly on the ground by making a 'scrape' in the ground, often among gravel. Both birds will incubate the eggs.

We enjoy birding at this location because of the wide variety of habitat there which offers us a wide variety of birds.

If you would like to support our Birdathon Team, please do so at any time during April at this site Thanks for your kind support.