During a walk on Thanksgiving around an Everett estuary in Washington state, I spotted a Black Phoebe making its characteristic forays after insects. The bird was far north of its usual range in the Southwest. The last time I had seen one was by a creek in the mountains south of Tucson when I lived in the area.
The sighting recalled an unexpected encounter years earlier with a different bird. My husband and I were driving along a highway near Tucson when I noticed a movement on a nearby abandoned road. We drove over to investigate and were astonished to discover a Common Loon stranded on the broken macadam. Perhaps it had mistaken the gleam of the road for a stretch of water, but it was now marooned. Draping a towel over the bird's head to shield us from its beak until we could get inside our VW bus, we put it in the back and removed its hood. As we drove, the loon protested intermittently until I closed the curtains against the desert sun and then it was quiet. A nearby state park gave us the address of a wildlife rehabilitator. The loon gave a heartrending cry when the rehabilitator put it in a cage, but she said it was not seriously injured and that she would feed it and then release it in a couple of days. Afterwards I spotted a report in the local Audubon newsletter of a sighting of a Common Loon on a lake that was near her house. Later research revealed that loons from Mexico sometimes migrate over the desert.
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AuthorI am a Northwest artist making collages from mulberry papers stamped by hand from original images that I have carved. Archives
April 2024
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