Suckish Non-Birding

I haven't posted here in a while because I've only been out birding a few times in the past two months due to health problems.  "That's suckish!" as my daughters would say.  However, the rarities this fall in Southeast Arizona have been much fewer than last year.  By this time last year 17 rarities had been spotted at Peña Blanca Lake alone.  Not that I only chase rare birds, but I certainly could be missing more.

The best bird this fall by far has been a Philadelphia Vireo found last month at, yes, Peña Blanca Lake.  The last time one was found in the state was 1999.  Unfortunately I was busy the weekend it was found and it didn't bother to stay around for another.  Recently I've felt a little better and tried for a few new county birds but have come up empty.  My biggest miss was last weekend when I tried for a Surf Scoter that was being seen at the sewage pond in Amado south of Tucson.  It was seen a few hours before I arrived but it eluded me.  It was seen the next day and a few days later with four Bonaparte's Gulls.  I wish these birds would stick around for the weekend!  Other misses were an American Bittern and Eastern Phoebe found along the Santa Cruz River.

But enough complaining.  On a positive note, I did get to see a Common Tern, a great bird for Pima county.  This photo shows the dark leading and trailing edge of the wing nicely.

6th hole pond of San Ignacio Golf Club | Green Valley, AZ

    

A few days ago I checked out my neighborhood patch at sunset and found this Cactus Wren.

So I'm hold up (pulling a Sandy Komito) waiting for the next good bird to show up and crossing my fingers I'll feel well enough to chase it.  Maybe I'll even feel well enough to go find one myself.