Team Bird Las Vegas Bird-a-Thon 2020

by Alex Harper

Western Tanager

​Alex Harper and Brandon Miller woke up early on May 3 to spend a few hours birding from home for the 2020 Birdathon. With a golf course and small park with fruiting mulberries across the street, they were hopeful that the green spaces would help yield a good species list.

​They woke up for a predawn scan of the neighborhood in hopes of a flyby Black-crowned Night-Heron heading time roost, which paid off. They were surprised to see the amount of migratory songbirds moving though: Warbling Vireo, Wilson’s and Yellow Warblers, Black-headed Grosbeak, Western Tanager and Lazuli Bunting passed low overhead, presumably looking for habitat after a long night of migrating.
 
The fellas tallied 29 species for the day, missing Cooper’s Hawk and Hooded Oriole, two species that may be breeding in their Las Vegas neighborhood.