The birds of modern, and old-time Phoenix


Lately I've been thinking about birds. Maybe it's because I watched the Alfred Hitchcock movie recently, and maybe it's because I've been watching documentaries on Netflix about birds. But really, I've always been interested in these little creatures. And today while I was walking to McDonalds for my coffee, I made a point of looking up, and seeing what I could see on a Sunday morning.

Yes, I have a lot of friends with great expertise in identifying birds, but they really haven't been of much help to me over the years. My interest in birds is the same as my interest in Phoenix history, ordinary stuff, or what one of my friends calls "extra-ordinary". I'm looking at things that most people don't see at all, like the little impromptu bird bath created this morning in a parking lot. I stopped in the parking lot to take that picture, and if anyone saw me, I'm sure they would have wondered why in the world I was doing that. Those are common, ordinary birds.

My bird-watching friends (they're called "birders" nowadays) distain ordinary birds. They're on the lookout for a "Double-Tufted Great Orange Whatchamacallit", which migrates and can only be seen at certain times. When I ask, "what bird is that", they sneer. But I want to know, because I'm surrounded by wondrous stuff. Anyway, all of this, as you'd imagine, gets me to thinking about birds in old-time Phoenix.

If you go waaaaay back, the only birds in the Phoenix area would have been desert-adapted birds, and some migratory birds. There are cactus wrens, and roadrunners, and that sort of thing, but the birds that I see in my little suburban neighborhood are the ones that were attracted by plenty of water, and trees.


By the way, if you know what kind of birds these are, please tell me. I really don't know, and I'm tired of being sneered at by experts.

Trees in Phoenix in 1915. I can hear the rustle of the cottonwoods, and the chirping of birds.

When Phoenix was first platted in 1870, the first thing the pioneers did was plant trees. They had water from canals, and they knew the importance of trees as windbreaks for their farms. And of course, with trees came birds. The kind of ordinary birds that we really don't even see around us.

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