A Phainopepla Visits (35)

Yesterday I heard a bird call I didn't recognize. I hunted in its direction and caught sight of someone I didn't know in the pine tree that guards my yard. The sound she made was soothing and odd, one stretched out exotic call. She moved to the pyracanthas before I had a chance to grab my binoculars from the table. There she bobbed about eating the bright red berries. I never did get to study her closely, but I caught sight of her crested head again and again. I was excited and intrigued but had no conscious idea of who she might be. Then a voice whispered, "Phainopepla."

I knew of the bird, but hadn't seen one yet. I must have heard people describing their crests and the unreachable memory drifted up, unexpected and baffling, like the answer to a crossword puzzle that appears, so entirely unknown to me I am surprised to discover it's right. I checked my bird book, and it was true. I didn't get a look at her red eye, but I am certain I had my first visit from a female Phainopepla. I hope it will be the first of many.

[Editor's note: Photograph copyright Scott Streit. The page where the image lives is: http://www.bird-friends.com/BirdPage.php?name=Phainopepla.]