Mike in the Wild

I was sitting on an expansive patio outside a downtown Phoenix building when I spotted a Townsend's warbler, my first of the year.  Even though I was only yards above ten lanes of busy traffic zooming by on I-10, the setting was surprisingly tranquil owing to four palo verde trees ablaze in their yellow springtime blossoms.  As the bird darted from one spindly branch to the next, it reminded me that we were in peak warbler migration season, when many species would either be migrating into Arizona or through the state for summer breeding.   It was easy to motivate myself early the next morning to drive forty-five minutes north to Spur Cross Ranch Conservation Area near the community of Cave Creek.  This gem of the Maricopa County Park system protected an unspoiled desert environment at the northern edge of Phoenix's vast urban sprawl.  More importantly the park surrounded a natural waterway that was part of a bird migration corridor.  Even though no wat...

The songs of my backyard's wintering white-crowned sparrows were still playing in my ears when I left my Phoenix home for a week-long, cruise.  It was a one-way, early-spring sailing from the port of Los Angeles to Vancouver, British Columbia.  I must have been attuned to the sparrows' plaintive melodies to quickly recognize the same calls and birds at most of the stops, namely in San Francisco; Astoria, Oregon; and Victoria, British Columbia.  However it was sea birds I was mostly seeking out, with one in particular, the tufted puffin, highest on my list.  Before setting off from Los Angeles I observed one unique sea bird right in the port: a lone western grebe.  It was floating and diving in the shadow of the colossal Grand Princess, my cruise ship for the journey.  The surrounding industrial complex that handles more cargo than any other seaport in the United States didn't strike me as ideal habitat for this elegant creature.  Squawking gulls and ba...