It is winter in SE Arizona.  The days are shorter, the sun lower in the sky.  Our summer avian residents have departed for warmer and buggier regions to our south, but our year round birds are still here, along with migrating flocks from the north.  We will see ducks on the ponds and tens of thousands of Sandhill Cranes at White Water Draw, southeast of Tombstone.  

Let's start our winter birding at Tucson Mountain Park, just west of Tucson and very close to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum.   Next we will travel east through Tucson to the foot of the Rincon Mountains at Agua Caliente Park. 

Pima County Natural Resources Parks and Recreation runs many programs including outdoor nature walks, many centered around birds.  On the 6th we joined Jeff Babson at Tucson Mountain Park, map below.

Tucson Mountain Park was established in April 1929. At 20,000 acres, the park is one of the largest natural resource areas owned and managed by a local government in the U.S. The park territory includes Old Tucson (toward the center of the map above and temporarily closed),  and the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum (seen in the upper left corner of the map).  We met up with Jeff and our birding group on Hal Gras Road, at the first ramada, seen in the lower middle of the map, and walked down the road, map detail shown below. 

Note that both maps come from Lightroom Classic CC.  I have geolocation tags on all the photographs taken on the 6th.  The map below shows the number of shots by location in the colored call-out squares. 

This whole region is spectacular. It was a beautiful morning, with the winter sun rising to the southeast. 

Many of the birds we spotted were far, far away, out of camera range, but a few were  up close against the rising sun.  Here we see a Curve-billed Thrasher sitting in a cholla.  In the image below he is taking off with a leap. 

Curve-billed Thrashers are about the size of a Robin, and reminiscent of a Mocking Bird, but a bit bulkier, with a decurved (curved down) bill.  They are year round residents of most of Mexico and southern Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas.   Their strong legs and long decurved bill provide good tools for hunting insects in the desert terrain.  As we see here, they are right at home in a cholla cactus. (Reference: All About Birds).  They build bulky nests of twigs 3-5 feet from the ground, often in cholla cactus.  For more on nesting, see my post from 2017. 

The Canyon Towhee is a large sparrow with a thick bill and a long tail.   They are year round residents of Mexico and portions of southern Arizona, New Mexico and SW Texas. They spend their days on the ground and in small desert shrubs eating mostly seeds as well as berries and some insects.  Their preference for seeds, and ability to eat insects, provides enough dietary variety to allow them to stay in one place throughout the year. 

For the photo geeks:  Balancing exposure on the backlit cholla was tricky.  In the new version of Adobe Lightroom Classic CC I have the option of asking LR to choose the subject, which it did pretty well.  I then increased the exposure of the bird without blowing out the nice highlights on the cholla needles. 

As a segue to Agua Caliente Park, I could not resist adding the image below of a Cactus Wren captured at Agua Caliente on January 19th, just to the east of the parking lot sitting on a cholla cactus. ​

Agua Caliente Park is on the east side of town in the Tanque Verde Valley, just east of Soldier Trail off of Roger Road.  For more on the park and its colorful history see my post from 2016 Agua Caliente Park . . .    Note that the county continues to offer bird walks in 2022 but the schedule varies.  See the county website for times and to sign up: Pima County Natural Resources Parks and Recreation.

Hooded Mergansers are small crested ducks that live throughout the U.S. and southern Canada, residing year round east of the Mississippi, and gracing our ponds during the winter.  Each year we are lucky to have a few here in Tucson, and this year at least one male has been spotted at Agua Caliente. 

They have striking crests and markings seen in these images above and below.

Hooded Mergansers dive in ponds for fish, crustaceans, amphibians, mollusks, insects and vegetation, catching their food in their thin serrated bills.  They are cavity nesters, favoring tree cavities 10 to 50 feet off of the ground.  The offspring leave the nest at one day, managing the fall to the ground, where mom walks them to the nearest body of water where swimming and diving begins right away. This breeding cycle favors climates with tall trees near water, consistent with their year round range east of the Mississippi, the Pacific northwest and Canada.  They also nest in tree boxes, helpful in areas where tall trees have been lost.

The photograph below is a female Hooded Merganser at Agua Caliente a year ago, January 26, 2021.  The female has a gray/brown body with a cinnamon crest.

Phainopeplas are silky flycatchers and regulars at Agua Caliente.  For more on these birds, checkout this post from 2016 Late Fall in Tucson, and this post on nesting in the spring: Fast Food for Phainopepla Hatchling . . 

The males are quite striking in the morning sun.  They catch insects on the wing,  favoring high perches, a real plus for birders and photographers alike.  

Gila Woodpeckers are year round residents of the desert southwest, from southern Arizona south into mainland Mexico and Baja California. They eat insects, small vertebrates and berries.  Above is a female looking for breakfast,  below is a male  sitting on top of a Saguaro. The males sport a red cap which we can see in the morning sun. 

​Gila Woodpeckers are cavity nesters, and regulars in the Saguaros of the southwest.  For more on this species in SE Arizona, see this page:  Gila Woodpecker.

The Vermilion Flycatcher is one of 37 species of Tyrant Flycatchers in the Family Tyrannidae, Order Passeriformes.  They are regular residents of SE Arizona, with a range south into Mexico, Central and South America. They are beautiful birds, easy to spot and fun to watch as they feed.

The male spends much of his time perched, looking for insects and running a route that often includes one or more perches. The male's bright color and hunting habits make him easy to photograph - although so much red in bright sun is a challenge in post-production processing. 

This male looks a bit fluffed up against the morning chill. Anyone with a down quilt knows that feathers are great for insulation.   

​For more photographs of Vermilion Flycatchers, see this link Vermilion Flycatchers Mt Lemmon AZ Images.

The Gray Flycatcher, like the Vermilion, is in the family Tyrannidae, but in a separate genus, Empidonax, also known as Empids.   Members of this genus are very similar in appearance, and often difficult to distinguish one from the other.  Their distinctive characteristics are  generally range, habitat, and call, the latter varying by season.  During winter and migration, when birds are more silent, it may be impossible to tell certain species apart.  Another empid we see in SE Arizona is the Cordilleran Flycatcher, which is almost identical to the Pacific Slope Flycatcher, except for range and mating calls.  For more on how to identify flycatchers, see Kenn Kaufman's definitive volume, Field Guide to Advanced Birding, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2011, p 344. 

Gray Flycatchers are described on the Cornell site as "grayish above, whitish below, with a thin, pale eye-ring. Darker wings and tail with two grayish wingbars. The bill is mostly pinkish or yellowish below, usually with a blackish tip."    The Gray Flycatcher can be distinguished  by the downward flicking of the tail,  in contrast to the upward flicking of their fellow empids.

Gray Flycatchers eat mostly insects in the understory, hunting from a perch, taking insects from the air as well as from the ground.  They may also eat small fruits during the winter months. 

As always, my thanks to Jeff Babson for his help in identification.  

Black Phoebes have sooty black bodies and crisp white bellies.  Unlike the empids, this bird is not hard to identify.  They live year round in the western Americas from northern California into southern South America.   They eat insects and other arthropods from low perches, usually near water.  They will run a route, repeatedly going from perch to perch harvesting their food.  The photograph above was captured near the western pond. 

Photo tip:  Quietly observe a Black Phoebe for a while, and you will likely see it move from perch to perch repeatedly.  Set up in a location with a good view of one or more perches, and routes, maximizing the light and background.  Set your shutter speed on the high side, above 1/1000 sec, and wait to catch this fun bird on his rounds. You will likely be close to a stream and may need bug repellant.  

The two images below were captured at White Water Draw in December of 2019.  In the second image the bird is taking off, likely spotting an insect and hanging on tight until his wings get a bite of the air to then spring forward toward the prey. 

That's all for now.  Stay tuned, more winter birding coming soon.  It is a great time to be out and enjoy the desert! 

​Happy Trails!

If you looked at my blog post from April 2nd, you may recall that the last entry was a Phainopepla Nest at Agua Caliente on Roger Road.   Above is a photo of mamma Phainopepla sitting on her nest late in the afternoon of  Sunday March 31st, when the chick or chicks had already hatched.   She has been most considerate and built the nest at eye level, albeit very shrewdly deep in the mesquite to make it both hard to see and difficult for predators to attack. And, yes there are pesky branches between my camera lens and the nest.  

On Thursday April 4th I returned.  I waited patiently, with a good view of one hatchling, below.  The stage was set, all I needed was for the action to begin. 

I spotted the mother on an adjacent tree branch above the nest.  Reasoning that she was returning with food for her chick, I got focused on the nest and began to shoot.  The image above was shot at 10:58 and 11 seconds, the next 5 images were all shot within  one second, 10:58:12 (the camera does not record fractions of a second).  The last image in this post was shot at 10:58:21, or in other words,  this whole feeding sequence took 10 seconds.  When was the last time you fed the kids in 10 seconds? 

Above and below we see the mother feeding insects to her chick, with a pesky twig in the foreground. 

She got that meal down quickly. All images shot with a Canon 7D Mk II, which can capture 10 frames/second, with some slowing for the time required to fill the camera buffer and move images to the card.  So, 10 frames/second in bursts, with some slowing as the buffer fills. 

Below, mom sizes up her offspring to be sure that everything went down OK. 

But, there is more.  Hack, hack, here comes a berry!

Insects provide protein for a growing bird, but the Phainopepla supplements what it captures on the wing along with berries, in this case an unripened mistletoe berry (Jeff Babson, personal communication).  The berries are held in the mother's crop, an widened area of the esophagus which allows birds to get their food down fast, avoid predators, then eat at leisure, or in this case, feed the family. 

Below, here comes dessert. 

But wait, there's more! 

Yahoo!  A second scoop (so to speak)!

That's it!  Entree and dessert (with two scoops) in 10 seconds.  Really fast food! 
("Yeah, I know you are still hungry, I'll bring more!")

That's all for now, more soon.
Happy trails! 

The Sora is a rail in the order Gruiformes, along with other rails, Cranes, the trumpeters of South America, the finfoots and the Limpkin (but hey, you knew that!).  Within that order, the Sora is in the family Rallidae (Rails, Gallinules and Coots).  This family grouping is the one you will likely find in texts and field guides. (References: Kenn Kaufman, Lives of North American Birds, David Allen Sibley, The Sibley Guide to Birds,  Roger Tory Peterson, Peterson Field Guide to Birds of Western North America). 

The Sora is widespread and common across North America, wintering in SE Arizona, New Mexico and Texas, and south into  Mexico and South America.  Distribution maps put their breeding north of Tucson from northern Arizona into Canada. 

This bird stays out of sight among the reeds in marshes, often calling with characteristic whistles and whinnies, but rarely seen. However, the draining of the wetlands in preparation for the controlled burn exposed the mud floor of the basins, and brought this Sora out in the open to feed. 

Above a Sora with its characteristic yellow bill and short cocked tail looking for food. Below we get a good look at the raised short tail and can see the generous size of their feet in the mud tracks. 

Below, the body and tail don't look ideal for flight, but these birds do migrate long distances into South America for the winter.  This image shows the size of the feet, ideal for grabbing reeds in the wetlands. 

Next, an Orange-crowned Warbler on a cattail.

Orange-crowned Warblers winter south of us in Mexico, and breed north of SE Arizona into Canada - so this bird may be a migrant.  Although they are named "Orange-crowned" the orange crown is rarely seen, and then only when the bird is excited and raises its crown feathers.  They eat mostly insects supplemented with fruit, berries and seeds. It seems to be eating seeds in the cattails, although there could be insects in there as well. 

One of the rights of spring in SE Arizona is the March Hawk Watch in Tubac.  If  you have been there, you will understand that this is another kind of March madness!  See my post from March 2017.

Every spring raptors migrate north from their winter homes in Mexico and parts south. This migration is followed very closely by the Hawk Migration Association of North America. There are 200 HawkCount sites in North America, one of them is in our own backyard here in Tubac, at the Ronald R. Morriss Park on the Santa Cruz River.  On any given day during the month, there are dozens of hawk watchers at the park from dawn to dusk participating in the count. Hawks come north from Mexico into the U.S. resting overnight near the river, waking up in the morning, and generally moving into the air between 9 and 10 am, as the desert floor heats up producing thermals.  

We made our yearly pilgrimage on March 19th, and I captured two images of note. Above is a Black Vulture.  These are large raptors with bare heads and white feathers at the wing tips that looks like  "mittens."  Black Vultures have white mittens.  Their range is throughout Mexico, Central and South America and the SE United States, just coming north over the border into Arizona, but not into Utah or Nevada. 

Below is a Common Black Hawk, soaring high and difficult to photograph!  Common Black Hawks live well to the south of us, with only an estimated 250 mating pairs in the United States breeding in Arizona, Texas and New Mexico.  They live and hunt  near wooded streams, eating fish, frogs and lizards. 

In the image below we see that the bird has broad wings and is all black except for a white band on a short tail and white spots at the base of the primaries in flight.    

After the Hawk Watch we ventured east to Patagonia Lake State Park, and walked east on the Sonoita Creek Trail.  For more on the park and the trail see my post from February 2018.

Above and below is a female Pyrrhuloxia, perhaps a juvenile, given the large head in relation to the body.  Just a guess.  

The Pyrrhuloxia is a close relative of the Northern Cardinal, with a range limited to the desert southwest, sticking to the southern border of Arizona, New Mexico and Texas, and south into Mexico. 

Here we can see a distinguishing feature, a curved bill or culmen, which makes the bill a great nutcracker.

Our walk by the creek was marked by many sightings of Ruby-crowned Kinglets,  small hyperactive songbirds that move very fast in the low growth close to the stream.  They are very hard to photograph.  Below is my best image, taken at some distance.  Fortunately I was able to capture the ruby crown which is usually not visible.  Note the broken white eye-ring and rear wingbar edged with black. 

It is spring nesting time at Agua Caliente, in the Tanque Verde Valley on Roger Road.  Above is an Anna's Hummingbird sitting on her nest, not far from the main pond.

For this species the female does all the work.  The male provides his genetic material, then disappears.  The female builds the nest out of bits and pieces of leaves and twigs with a big component of spider webs, which can be seen on close inspection in the images above and below.  The clutch size is always two eggs, and as the young grow the nest expands to accommodate their increasing size. Like having a house built of spandex. I hope for more images of hatchlings later this month. 

Below, two images of a female Vermilion Flycatcher sitting on her nest, and the male, not too far away.  Her presence is intermittent,  probably indicating no eggs yet, but hopefully soon.  Unlike the Anna's Hummingbird, the male is a major helper for his mate, helping with the nest, and feeding mom while she sits on the eggs. 

The final spring entry, a female Phainopepla sitting on her nest.  These are striking birds of the southwest, the male a silky black with a crest.  They are seen around Tucson mostly in the winter, feasting on mistletoe berries in Mesquite trees.  

This is the first nest I have seen.  It is located about 4 feet above the ground, deep in a mesquite tree.   Below, the female is sitting on the nest earlier in March, incubating her clutch. 

Below, a hatchling.  There may be two, it is hard to see from this angle.  The nest is very well built and deep. 

​The morning sun transilluminates the chick. "I am hungry!  Where's breakfast!" 

Below, mom returns, and feeds her hatchling in the second frame. 

The image below shows what is probably early feather growth on the hatchling's head.

That's all for now!  Stay tuned, spring is just beginning, more good stuff to come!

Happy Trails! 

Thursday October 18th, was the weekly bird walk at Agua Caliente Park, a Pima County Parks and Recreation activity led by Jeff Babson.  In October the walk starts at 8 am by the ranch house.  You can sign up in advance at the Pima County website, link here.

The 18th was clear but very windy!  We were surprised by a flock of Cedar Waxwings hanging on to tree branches as they swayed back and forth in the wind.  I had the shutter set at 1/2000 second to freeze the birds and branches as they swung back and forth.  It is easy to see ruffled feathers in these shots.

Cedar Waxwings are songbirds in the Bombycillidae family, related to the Bohemian Waxwing and the European Starling.  They live throughout North America,  staying  wherever they can find fruit; in mixed woodlands, along streams, or in fields, grasslands, sagebrush, and along desert washes.  They travel in large flocks, and will arrive in Tucson from time to time and stay for as long as they can find food.    They breed in Canada, traveling south in the winter to feed on ornamental berries.  See my post from December 2016 for Cedar Waxwings feasting on berries in Bend, Oregon.  For more on their habitat, food and nesting patterns, see the Cornell Website here.    

​Below, portions of the flock at Agua Caliente near the pond, close to the ranch house. 

Below, a bird caught in mid-hop, checking out a new branch for size.

Below, the bird on the right has a mottled breast, characteristic of a juvenile, in the first year of life.

​(Note correction thanks to Jeff Babson. Originally I assumed this mottling was due to the wind, rather this is a juvenile. 10/27/2018)   

Below, a bird finds shelter and looks for food in a tree next to the pond.

Cedar Waxwings get their name from the Cedar Berries they eat during the winter, and the red waxy tips on their tertiary feathers, a feature I was not able to capture this day. ​   However, we can see the red waxy tips on the two images below, captured at Catalina State Park in March of 2017.

For spectacular images of Cedar Waxwings in the Bay Area, see Tom Grey's website.

Jeff Babson spotted this sparrow foraging in low shrubs off of the path on the way to the western ponds. As always, my thanks to him for the excellent walks at Agua Caliente, and this particular identification. 

The Rufous Winged Sparrow is a resident of the Sonoran Desert in southern Arizona and northern Mexico, with a fairly small range.  They tend to stay in one place throughout the year and life cycle.  Their nesting behavior is triggered by the first summer monsoon rain, thus they nest later than most species in the SE Arizona region. 

They are small with a short conical bill and long tail.  They have rusty stripes on the head and a rusty stripe behind the eye.  The breast is grey and unstripped.  There is a rusty (rufous) patch on the shoulder, which is not always evident, and not seen in these images. 

The Rufous Winged Sparrow is distinguished from its cousins (Rufous-crowned Sparrow and Chipping Sparrow)  by a yellow bill, brown streaks down the back, and two black mustache stripes, which we can see in images below.  Among these features, the pair of mustache stripes is the most distinctive.

This last image, above, shows the long tail.

Below, two images captured in our backyard in August of this year.  Major credit to my wife DJ who recognized the bird, AND got me out there with my gear to get these images.  We can see the rufous patch on the shoulder.  

On a more serious note, the Rufous-winged Sparrow is on the 2014 State of the Birds Watch List, because of  its declining population due to loss of habitat from grazing and development.  ​

That's all for now! More soon.

​Happy Trails! 

The middle of May in Tucson has turned out to be cooler than usual - partial compensation for some of the really hot days we had earlier in the year. On the Thursday May 18th Agua Caliente birding walk we caught up with the nursery. Over the past two months we have seen nests for Anna's Hummingbirds, Vermilion Flycatchers, the Great Horned Owl, Curved-bill Thrashers, the Beardless Tyrannulet, Ravens, and Cooper's Hawks. 

The Cooper's Hawk's nest is high in a Cottonwood tree close to the guest house and the path that leads to the western ponds.  From the path, looking waaaay up and toward the south, you can see the nest. There are at least two nestlings, here being fed a fresh kill by the mother, images above and below.  In the image below it is not clear if the chick is full, or offering food back to mom. The kill is off to the mother's left side, right side of the frame, and as we watched she ducked her head out of frame to get pieces she then fed to the young. 

Below, a pause in the feeding.

I suspect we were catching all this toward the end of the meal. The mother finally picks up the whole kill, and dangles it above the young. Perhaps she is showing the chicks what they will need to deal with as adults ("You're not going to get this kind of service forever!") , or this could just be a "last call!" 

In any event, after a minute or so she flies off with the kill, perhaps to leave it with the male who generally sits watching the nest from an adjacent tree. She returns, and settles down on the brood, keeping them warm and protected. 

Ravens are also nesting, just north of the Cooper's Hawk nest. The nest itself is tough to see from the ground, but it is there, and likely has nestlings.  As we were walking west on the path to the western ponds, just as we cleared the cover of the mesquite bosque, we spotted a soaring Red-tailed Hawk to the south.  This is likely a immature male, with all the markings of a Red-tailed, but without a red tail. Image below: 

As the hawk flew closer to us, he was intercepted by first  one and then a second Raven, on high alert for any raptors that might raid their nest.  Below, the hawk spots one of his attackers. 

The Ravens rapidly went on the attack, doing aerobatics that looked at times incompatible with flight. Below are three images showing the Raven attacking the hawk feet first.

The second Raven got into the fight quickly, sometimes hanging back, sometimes getting closer. Below the Ravens are 2 on 1 against the hawk. 

The hawk moved north and west fairly quickly, getting out of our range, and away from the Raven's nest. They appeared to break off the flight. Score another point for Raven homeland defense! 

After all this feeding and fighting, we caught up with some of the more placid songbirds.  Below, three images of a Lark Sparrow

Hooded Orioles are common right now, and one male was out and about on a blooming Saguaro toward the west end of the park, images below. 

That's all for now - more coming soon!  Happy Trails! 

The Vermilion Flycatcher nest that I posted a week ago has progressed. A week ago there were three nestlings, now there are three fledglings. Above, a portrait of the three offspring in the morning light. I was able to find a spot between the leaves and branches, and the three of them finally struck the right pose. The one on the right has his back to us, and has turned his head back toward the camera. The nest is no longer big enough for the three of them, the one on the right was spending most of his time on the branch.  They are still waiting for "take out" from Mom, see below, but should be ready to catch bugs on their own soon. 

My posting of the 16th had images captured on the 13th of the Anna's Hummingbird mom feeding very new hatchlings. One week later on the 20th the nestlings are bigger, and it is clear that there are two of them in the nest, below. 

The mother really does gymnastics to feed her young, two images below.

Stay tuned. More soon.  

The past month has been an explosion of spring nesting activity, and for us, our number one stop has been Agua Caliente. Above, a female Vermilion Flycatcher sitting on her nest with three nestlings on April 15th. Our best guess is that these offspring will fledge in the next week. 

We have been following this nest for the past three weeks.  The male will feed the female when she is sitting on her clutch of eggs - which we see in the images below captured two weeks ago on March 30th. The male here looks like Superman rushing in with provisions for his hungry mate.  

Curve-billed Thrasher's build their nests at a very convenient (for me) height of 4 to 6 feet above the ground, commonly in Cholla cactus, as we see here at Agua Caliente.  Both the parents provide food, and I have some shots of all four family members crowded in the nest. As an aside, the juveniles have eyes less yellow than their parents, and less of a curve to the bill, as we can see here. 

It is feeding time, although in the image below the parent looks more like a choir director than a waiter. 

These birds are ready to fledge, as we can see in the wing-flapping sequence below.  View left to right. 

I posted images of the female building this nest on March 18th. Her eggs have now hatched, and she is feeding two hatchlings as of April 13th. Below she is sitting on the nest, followed by images of her feeding. Note that she is solo on this, the male Anna's Hummingbird does not stick around for raising the young.

These hatchlings look really young. Note how far down the mother's bill goes! Ouch!

A female Great Horned Owl has been sitting on her nest at Agua Caliente for some time. This past week we were able to see a nestling for the first time, just barely peeking up into view as the mother moved herself around in the nest. The mother's head is to the left and tucked down, her tail to the right. 

Happy Easter, a Joyous Passover and have a wonderful spring! 

March 16th morning walk with Jeff Babson at Agua Caliente, we spotted a hummingbird nest, with a female Anna's Hummingbird sitting on the nest off and on, as well as tending to it. This nest matches the excellent description on the Cornell Lab of Ornithology site,  "The female builds the nest out of plant down and spider webs, sitting in the nest and building the cup rim up around her. Nests take around a week to build and are 1 inch tall by 1.5 inches in diameter. They may be built of cattail, willow, leaves, thistle, or small feathers and bound together by spider webs or insect cocoons. They may decorate the outside with lichens, mosses, or even paint chips." 

Above we can see her tending to nest construction. Her choice of building materials allows the nest to expand as she lays her eggs and the chicks grow. This nest is no bigger than a golf ball, situated at a Y-shaped branch - tough to spot and equally difficult to find again once binoculars or camera is lowered! 

For photo geeks: The image directly below was captured on the 16th, handheld without flash. The image above was captured on the 21st, when I returned with tripod, gimbal mount, remote shutter release, and flash with a Better Beamer.  Image above Canon 7D Mark II, Sigma 150-600 C series at 600 mm, ISO 200 1/125th at f/10, Canon Speedlite 580EX II with Better Beamer, output lowered 2 stops, on tripod. 

All images below handheld from the 16th.

Lucy's Warbler is one of the smaller warblers, wintering along western coastal Mexico and Central America, migrating north to Southern Arizona for breeding. They were spotted about a week ago in Tucson, having returned from their winter grounds. Below are three images from Agua Caliente last Thursday that shows the characteristic rufous crown and rump patch, and one image from March 10th at Catalina State Park that shows the bird in flight. The last is not the best, but it does show the characteristic markings of the male. 

Lucy's warbler is one of the few warblers that nest in holes. Their favorite sites are in mature (old) mesquite trees, but as these are cleared for development, their habitat is becoming more limited. Tucson Audubon is studying the use of nest boxes as a substitute for tree holes. For more information on nest boxes for desert birds see this link.

The Belted Kingfisher is a winter resident at Agua Caliente, but difficult to spot, rarely sits still, and (for me) difficult to photograph. This image was captured last week, just north of the pond near the ranch house. For great images of this distinctive bird, and a discussion of differences by sex and age, see Tom Grey's website.

Cedar Waxwings are visually spectacular songbirds that travel in flocks, seeking out fruit as well as insects. They live throughout North America in the winter, migrating to the northern U.S. and Canada for breeding in spring and summer. I last spotted them in Bend Oregon in December, see this post.  My only other glimpse of them in Southern Arizona was last spring in Portal. So imagine my surprise when I walked out my front door in the Old Fort Lowell area earlier this month to find a flock of 50 to 100 warming themselves in the morning sun on a nearby tree. 

The image above shows the characteristic black and while facial coloration, the yellow tips on the tail feathers, and the bright red waxy tips on the secondary wing feather.  Below is a good look at the tail feathers.

Below a bird is stretching and preening, showing off the red tips of the secondaries on birds right side, left side of the image.

Presumably the same flock was there the following day at dawn, not to return. I suspect they are moving north, looking for trees with fruit. 

Spring is the time for raptors to migrate north. This migration is followed very closely by the Hawk Migration Association of North America. There are 200 HawkCount sites in North America, one of them in our own backyard in Tubac, at the Ronald R. Morriss Park, just east of Tubac on the Santa Cruz River.  On any given day in March, there are dozens of hawk watchers at the park from dawn to dusk participating in the count. Hawks come north from Mexico into the U.S. resting overnight near the river, waking up in the morning, and generally moving between 9 and 10 am, as the desert floor heats up producing thermals.  

We  joined Jeff Babson as he led a contingent on the morning of March 14th.  During the course of the morning we saw Black Hawks, Black Vultures, one American Kestrel, Ravens, Zone-tailed Hawks,  and an occasional Red-Tailed Hawk. These birds are at considerable distance whether they are on the horizon or overhead, making photography a challenge. Here are some of the better images. 

The Common Black Hawk is indigenous to the Southwest, living along rivers and streams. Wintering in Mexico, they migrate north in the spring, one of the "frequent flyers" for the Hawk Watch in Tubac on the Santa Cruz River. There are an estimated 250 breeding pairs in the U.S.  They have short tails, long legs, and broad/deep wings with prominent secondaries, producing the wing shape seen above. ​

The Zone-tailed Hawk  has a similar appearance, but the wings are not as deep. My best guess is that the image below is a Zone-tailed Hawk.

Below is a Black Vulture, abundant in the Southeast, and less common in the Southwest, but hanging out with the rest of the gang here in Tubac on the flight north. This bird is very distinctive from below with white portions of the head, white distal wings, and white tail. 

Below and image of a Black Vulture and a Black Hawk in a kettle rising on thermals. It is great to see these two massive birds together. 

Below is an American Kestrel. Not the sharpest image but shows characteristic markings and wing pattern in flight. 

That's it for now. Spring is here!  More postings soon . . . . .

Thursday February 23rd, it was Wake Up With the Birds led by Jeff Babson! A great time for birding in SE Arizona. At the ranch house just as we were starting out there was a pair of Broad-billed Hummingbirds, male and female. I was unable to capture the male in focus (gosh they move quickly!) but I had better success with this female. The female has a white line over the eye with dark ear patch, and a  grey breast.  I have posted all three good images here since they show slightly different features of the bird, and convey a sense of how they move their wings in flight.  For more on the male, not shown here, check out the Cornell Lab website.

The four images below were captured on the morning of the 16th, and demonstrate how well they can fluff up their feathers to create insulation. 

The Black-throated Gray Warbler is one of 54 species of Wood-warbler. This bird winters in southern Mexico and Central America, summers and breeds in the western U.S. all the way up to western Canada. Tucson is on the edge of the summer territory, but definitely in the migration path.  These are small songbirds with gray backs, white underparts and face, with a black mask and crown and a very distinctive yellow square in front of the eye. The bird above moved fast among the branches and was tough to capture, but this one shot shows the distinctive markings. 

On the other hand, the Black-and-white Warbler winters in Florida, Mexico and South America, and summers in the Northeast and Canada, with Tucson on the edge of their migration path. These birds are boldly striped in black and white. The images above and below were captured during the weekly Audubon walk at Sweetwater Wetlands on Wednesday the 22nd. Thanks to Luke Safford for leading these Wednesday walks.  Disclaimer: these images are not the best, but serve to show this visitor's markings. Canon 7D with Sigma 150-600 C, f/8.0, at 1/800 sec, ISO 1600, 267 mm. A black and white bird in deep shadows at high ISO! Post-production processing in Adobe Lightroom 6.0. 

The Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet is a Tyrant Flycatcher that lives in portions of Mexico extending as far north as SE Arizona, and southern Texas. They will catch insects on the fly, but more often climb and hop on trees to get slower moving insects off of the trees. The last frame shows some of this foraging behavior. Apparently Tucson is the spot for avid birders to add this species to their life list without pulling out a passport. 

The Verdin is a small songbird common is the Southwest U.S. and Mexico. See prior posting from Sabino Canyon.  You can see the rufous wing patch on the image above. This bird is all fluffed up, likely warming up in the sun,  showing how feathers are great insulators. Think of a down jacket doubling as wings!  

The Cactus Wren is a noisy year-round resident of Mexico, Arizona, Nevada and New Mexico, and is the Arizona state bird. The bird is well adapted to desert living, able to survive without drinking free-standing water.  This wren was sitting on cholla cactus not far from the new ponds being built on the west side of the park, and was vocal as usual, as can be seen in the last frame.

That's all for now!  The next Wake Up With the Birds will be on Thursday March 2nd, at 8 am, new time on the spring schedule. For more events sponsored by Pima County, see this link.

I have been birding on a regular basis this fall, getting the images downloaded and edited, but not getting them to this page. So here is a "catch-up" post of some of my "keepers" as well as some average images of some above average birds. I will walk us  east to west, from Agua Caliente Park to Sweetwater Wetlands, to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum.

There is a large population of Phainopepla, a Silky-flycatcher (Family Ptilogonatidae, Order Passeriformes) living at Agua Caliente right now, feeding on insects and mistletoe berries in the mesquite trees. One day I was able to stand right in front of a mesquite near a path on the western side of the park, while a sizable population of females fed in the tree and posed in the early morning sun.  

Males are present as one would expect, black and silky with the characteristic crest. 

For images of a partial albino male, see my posting from Sabino Canyon earlier this fall. For more on Phainopepla, see The Sibley Guide to Bird Life and Behavior by David Allen Sibley, 2001, pp 488-89.

I always photograph Vermilion Flycatchers whenever I see them - who can resist! In this case a male was perched high on a palm tree, in the south east end of the park, facing the morning sun. The branch is grey and white, looking much like the birds wings. The background is shaded and distant, turning to black in the photo.

On another morning walk, not far from where I captured the flycatcher above, we spotted a Great Horned Owl, who seems to be a regular resident. You will see better images of this species captured at the Desert Museum raptor free flight, but in this case, we have a wild resident, running on his own schedule, and appearing when he wants.  They are nocturnal, hunting at night.  Looks a bit sleepy: 

Below, a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, with an insect in its beak (bug-McMuffin?). 

Below, a White-crowned Sparrow. The white crown is out of view at the top of the head. 

Below, a Northern Mockingbird, at rest and in song:

Below, an American Kestrel, described by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology as North America's littlest falcon. This Kestrel hangs out at Agua Caliente, and any birding visit to the park warrants searching the high perches for this falcon. In this case, he was high on a tree branch, holding tight in a high wind. For some spectacular photos of male and female Kestrel's, perched and hovering, see Tom Gray's website.  For great photos and text on raptors, see Birds of Prey in the American West, photographs  by Tom Vezo, text by Richard L. Glinski.  Available online or in our local Audubon Nature shops.

The freshwater wetlands in Tucson are home to rallids,  consisting of Rails, Gallinules, and Coots. The Common Gallinule is a resident at Agua Caliente, see prior posting for images.  Coots are common at Sweetwater Wetlands, and the Sora, the most common rail in North America, lives a secretive life in the reeds at Agua Caliente.  Every birding session seems to begin with the refrain, "Can we see the Sora today?"  He lives in a patch of reeds on the far side of the pond across from the ranch house, and rarely shows himself. When seen, it is usually only his head for a few seconds. When out in the water or foraging in the mud, by the time binoculars or cameras are ready, he has scooted back into the reeds. 

However, last Thursday morning he hung out longer than usual, pulling food out of the mud adjacent to the reeds. The images below are among the best I got, albeit not optimal. I could not get closer without swimming (not an option) so these images are enlargements of frames shot at 600mm with a cropped sensor. 

These show his yellow bill, long legs and large feet, as well as the short tail. There is some striping effect on the body in some images that I think represent reflections off of the water.

For more on rallids, see The Sibley Guide to Life and Behavior, illustrated by David Allen Sibley, 2001, pp 246-250.

I cannot leave Agua Caliente and the Tanque Verde Valley without at least one shot of a bird on a saguaro, in this case a female Gila Woodpecker with what looks like fruit or a nut from a palm tree: 

Wednesday, November 16th, I joined the weekly Audubon bird walk at Sweetwater Wetlands, led by Luke Safford. High on a branch, close to the parking lot we spotted this Snowy Egret, a white bird against an overcast sky, with the sun trying to break through. These medium sized herons have long sharp bills to spear fish and small aquatic animals. Here we can see their characteristic long black legs, and yellow feet.  

On the Wednesday bird walk on December 7th, we spotted this Baltimore Oriole.  These are migrants, summering and breeding in the midwest and northeast, wintering toward the southeast, but generally not as far west as Arizona. This bird has been seen at the wetlands recently, and we were fortunate to spot it on the 7th. This was shot at some distance, the sun to the right of the frame. I did post-production processing in Lightroom to bring up the shadows enough to see the beak, eye and breast. 

Below, an "Audubon's" Yellow-rumped Warbler, often known by his nick-name, "Butter Butt," for the yellow patch on the rump that looks like a pat of butter. Rump not shown in this photo. Said to be the most abundant wintering warbler in Southern Arizona [Ref: Richard Cachor Taylor, Birds of Southeastern Arizona, p 329]

A male Lesser Goldfinch.  For excellent pictures of both sexes and juveniles, see Tom Greys site.

Finally, an Orange-crowned Warbler, sitting on a Cattail going to seed. For more on plants at Sweetwater Wetlands, see this link. Check out this link for Tom Grey's site.

I recently discovered the North American Nature Photography Association (NANPA) thanks to birding friends Tom and Steve.   NANPA has a local meetup group,  which sponsors meetings and outings, check out the website if you are interested.  November 13th we met at the ASDM, in large part to check out the raptor free-flight they offer October to April, 10 am and 2 pm.  Go to their website for details, www.desertmuseum.org.  It was a great trip. I had such a good time that I came back on my own Monday morning!  For more on the ASDM see my post from November 2015

November 13th and 14th I caught the 10 am free flight. They flew a Great Horned Owl,  a Prairie Falcon, and a Ferruginous Hawk.

The museum runs the free flight on an expanse of desert to the south and a bit east on park grounds. They have created a viewing area with railings, with snags adjaceent to the area. They have one docent explaining the flights using an excellent sound system, and several trainers, and assistants. Bits of raw meat are set up on the snags, and the trainer has the birds fly from snag to snag, often right over the heads of the visitors.

​First bird out was the Great Horned Owl. Below are four images of the bird in flight. For more images, see my posting from the ASDM a year ago

Great Horned Owls are nightime hunters, going after large mammals and birds, as well as smaller rodents and frogs. It is unusual to see them fly during the day, but in this case they have been trained to go after food in the morning for the exhibit.

Next was the Prairie Falcon described by the Cornell Lab as, "A raptor of the West’s wide-open spaces, (they) glide above shrubby deserts and grasslands searching for ground squirrels and other small mammals and birds. In flight, look for the dark triangle of 'armpit' feathers that distinguish it from other light-colored falcons."
I think you can see the dark "armpit" on the second image, below. 

Last on the flight line was the Ferruginous Hawk, the largest of the North American hawks, living on the prairies, deserts and open ranges of the west. This hawk has rusty (ferruginous) shoulders and legs with white underparts, and enjoys small mammals. In fact, on the 14th the flight was cut short when the hawk spotted prey to the east of the flight area and disappeared!  Word came back by radio from the trainer (along with a shrug!) that our hawk had spotted something better than their bait for breakfast, and would not be back for a while. 

That is it for fall 2016! Got this one in just under (or on) the wire, with Wednesday December 21st being the first day of winter. Best wishes for the holidays!