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Bird of the Month Phainopeplas are the only U.S. representative of the family Ptilogonatidae, known as "silky-flycatchers." Male Phainopeplas are black with an elegant crest, red eyes, and bold white wing patches that appear in flight. Females are similar but a subdued gray. Phainopeplas eat mainly fruit, particularly desert mistletoe berries. They also eat flying insects, captured flycatcher-style, during short flights from perches or gleaned from vegetation. Phainopeplas are adapted to life in the dry Southwest. They are year-round residents in southern California, south-central Arizona, and northwestern and central Mexico, including all of Baja. In summer, part of the population migrates a short distance north into central California and central Arizona, and in winter part of the population migrates a short distance south into southwestern Arizona and south- central Mexico. They live mostly in desert washes that have mesquite, acacia, palo verde, smoke tree, and ironwood. They nest in these desert trees and feed heavily on berries of the desert mistletoe, a parasitic plant that lives on these trees. In California, Phainopeplas also occur in open oak-sycamore woodlands, chaparral, boxthorn scrub, and Joshua tree desert. Phainopeplas live in chaparral around Four Seasons and on Mar. 6 one of these birds wandered into Four Seasons, probably searching for a nest site. ~ Steve Edelman Birding CLUB On Feb. 13 we took our winter field trip to the San Jacinto Wildlife Area. We tallied 33 bird species during a wonderful morning walk. Highlights included Cinnamon Teal, several Northern Harriers, all three white egrets, and flyover flocks of White-faced Ibis and American White Pelicans. Our March 6 bird walk started off with a bang; as soon as our group of masked birders started on Trail A, Genie Cooper pointed out a Phainopepla, a first record and Four Seasons bird species #109! Birds seen along Trails A and B included a Downy Woodpecker, a Great Egret, and a flock of Pine Siskins. Then we drove to The Courts to check out the retention basin, where we got a peek at a Wilson's Snipe before it hunkered down and disappeared in the grass. The group bird walk yielded 24 bird species and 16 additional species were spotted during the day by Linda Miller, Tom Paulek, Genie and Bill Cooper, Barbara Wasco, Jane Slamer, Tina Canon, Julie and Peter Shuttleworth, and me, for a total of 40 species, a new winter record! Email steve.h.edelman@gmail. com for more information and to receive club communications. ~ Steve Edelman FOUR SEASONS BREEZE | APRIL 2021 39 The jet black plumage, red eye, and raised crest identify this bird as an adult male Phainopepla, just like the one the club sighted on Trail A at the start of our Mar 6. bird walk. Photo by Dr. Tom Bartol, https://mexican-fish.com/phainopepla/ Downy Woodpecker on Trail B in March. We usually see one or two a year during winter and this is our 2021 Downy Woodpecker! Photo by Club member Gerrie Karczynski The Four Seasons Birding Club at the San Jacinto Wildlife Area on Feb. 13

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