I don’t know if Alice is a “birder” or not, but she certainly attracts birds to her backyard in Goodyear, Arizona with feeders and water. I wouldn’t have driven 1,500 miles just to see four “lifers,” birds I have never seen before, but I’ll have to admit that I was fascinated with the birds that she had attracted when I was there.
I see a lot of Spotted Towhees in Puget Sound and California Towhees in Santa Rosa, but I’ve never seen an Albert’s Towhee before.
We have Anna and Rufous hummingbirds in my backyard, but I’ve never seen a Costa’s Hummingbird before.
I think I’ve seen thrashers before, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Curve-Billed Thrasher before.
This Gila Woodpecker spent a lot of time at the hummingbird feeder, but I could never get a shot of it. That would have been a cute shot, but this is a much more elegant pose.
And these are only the birds that I saw for the first time ever. Alice’s yard was full of birds I’ve rarely seen and others that I had never seen so close before.