Mike in the Wild

For the last month, I've been on a hunt for warblers.  The small songbirds have been migrating through the Phoenix area, some arriving for a summer breeding season in the Arizona desert, others on their way to sites further north.  I've also noticed several orioles, especially the hooded, arriving in the area.  And on Monday I was thrilled to encounter another migrant, a yellow-breasted chat, for the first time ever. Warblers are in a large family, one comprising 117 species, almost half of which range into the United States.  Orioles are a much less plentiful species with only nine types breeding here.  As for chats, the number is one.  In fact, there's only one chat species at all, the yellow-breasted.   And until not very long ago, experts actually considered it to be a member of the warbler family.   Needless to say, the chat wasn't on my radar as I hit the warbler trail over the weekend.  I came up with nothing in my neighborho...