Last Wednesday, a customer was sharing with me her excitement about having a pair of cardinals in her yard. At home the next day, I was sitting in the den reading when I heard the unmistakable sound of a cardinal singing. I immediately stepped out the back sliding door, and, sure enough, there was a striking male cardinal perched at the top of a tree.
Two days later, I heard the cardinal again, so I stepped outside to see if I could spot it, and it was sitting on one of my seed feeders! This is the third year in a row I’ve had a male cardinal in my yard, but I’ve never seen a female with the male. I’m hopeful he can attract a mate, and they will produce offspring in our neighborhood and become established as a year-round resident.
This past week, we received a call here at the store from a woman reporting she had a wild bird in her house and she was requesting help to remove it. We typically don’t do house calls to remove birds, so we gave her some advice. We suggested that she leave her front door open so the bird could find its way back outside.
A short time later the woman called the store again—she now had two birds in her house! What are the odds of that happening? At this point, I offered to go to her home to see if I could help. Before heading over to her home, I borrowed a telescoping pole and a net, from a neighbor who has a swimming pool.
When I arrived, I quickly figured out how the problem unfolded. The customer had a wreath on her front door and when she opened the door, a house finch was perched on the wreath. When the door opened, the finch was startled and flew right into the house. Once in the house, it started singing and calling, which attracted the attention of her mate. With the front door wide open, he flew into the house, too! The female of the pair was in the entryway, which had a very high ceiling and a lot of windows.
After several minutes, I was successful at catching the female using the net. The male was much easier to catch, as he was perched on an eye-level window sill in the dining room. I approached him at an angle so he didn’t see me coming, and with a quick grab as I was able to catch him with my bare hands. A happy ending for both birds—and the homeowner. The final step, before leaving, was to remove the wreath from the front door!
While our weather continues to be very unsettled, spring migration is certainly underway. Most notably is the arrival of turkey vultures. Earlier this week, a customer reported seeing about forty turkey vultures in the vicinity of south Montezuma Street. It was only about half an hour after he emailed me when I saw eleven turkey vultures flying directly over our store parking lot.
Next week marks our one-year anniversary of our rebranding and moving to our new store location on Black Drive at Willow Creek Road. After having been Jay’s Bird Barn for almost twenty years, it is sometimes difficult to remember to call us by our new name, The Lookout. It is hard to believe it has already been a year! To celebrate we are hosting a week-long sales event with a different special each day. Check out our website at www.thelookoutaz.com for a list of daily specials. And if you haven’t shopped at our new location yet, we invite you to stop by.
Until next week, Happy Birding!
Eric Moore is the owner of The Lookout, in Prescott, where you will find a Hallmark Gold Crown Store, wild bird products, and Vortex and Swarovski optics. Eric has been an avid birder for over 55 years. Eric can be contacted at eric@thelookoutaz.com.
