April 10, 2020

Dear friends:

I met Barry and his brother Kevin in April 1975 on the Whooping Crane boat trip at a Texas Ornithological Society convention in Rockport, Texas. Barry was twelve and Kevin was seventeen. We kept in touch and became close friends. Many years later they both became VENT leaders. I co-led tours with both of them. Working with Barry, I soon learned that the most important things in his life are his family, his yard list, and the Red Sox. One of my claims to fame is that I added a bird to his yard list when I spotted a Black-crowned Night-Heron perched in a tree far away.

This message comes courtesy of Barry Zimmer, a longtime tour leader for VENT, who has led tours since 1985. Barry’s main areas of expertise lie in North and Central America, but his travels have taken him to such exotic locales as Japan, Russia, India, South Africa, Madagascar, South America, Australia, New Zealand, and Antarctica.

Best wishes,

Victor Emanuel

Mountain Ridge over Barry Zimmer's yard

BARRY ZIMMER AND THE COMMON BLACK HAWK

When our April and early May tours were canceled, I realized that I was going to be home for the entire month of April for the first time in 35 years. I love birding in my yard (in El Paso, Texas) and rarely get to experience much of spring migration there. I told my wife that this year I was going to try to find a Common Black Hawk from our yard (one I had wanted to get for years). My yard list was 248, but I had never seen this species from the yard in twenty years of living here. There are only a handful of county records ever for Common Black Hawk, but late March and early April are prime times to look for a migrant. 

On April 4, some local friends and I decided to have a yard Big Day challenge, with each of us trying to see as many species as possible from our yard in one 24-hour period. My morning was progressing rather slowly, seeing many of the resident desert species but few passerine migrants prior to 10 AM. I decided to move from the backyard to the front yard to watch for raptors migrating along the mountain ridge above us. Almost immediately I began seeing Turkey Vultures heading north in groups of 10–20 at a time (I would count an impressive 279 migrating for the day). Soon I spotted an Osprey, a species I only occasionally see from our yard. Sharp-shinned Hawk, Cooper’s Hawk, Swainson’s Hawks, and a couple of Golden Eagles followed in rather quick succession. After about thirty minutes, I went back around to the backyard to write down the things I had just seen. From our upper patio deck, I suddenly spotted two birds rising up to the north of our house. I raised my binoculars and was stunned to see one of them was a Common Black Hawk! I grabbed my scope and ran out to the front, as the bird was sailing slightly to our west. I stopped in the middle of the street and was able to snap off about seven quick digiscope shots before the bird dropped out of sight. My prediction and hope of a Common Black Hawk had come true. Yard bird #249!

Additionally, the strong movement of raptors and other birds migrating along the mountain line gave my day list a substantial boost. I added such seemingly unlikely species as American White Pelican and White-faced Ibis among others. Settling in out back for the remainder of the day, I added Gambel’s Quail, White-throated Swift, the first migrant Wilson’s Warbler of the season, and several more. For the day I would tally 48 species for my yard. This was perhaps the fourth or fifth most species I have ever seen in one day from my house.

With birding as a passion, it is a wonderful distraction to be able to entertain yourself (during a mandatory “shelter in place”) right in your own backyard. Birding brings joy and relieves stress! I now have my sights set on finding a Red-faced Warbler in May—my new most wanted yard bird!

—Barry Zimmer

Barry Zimmer and Canolli 2008