Happy Easter and Joyous Passover ! New life begins in the Sonoran Desert.

Vermilion Flycatchers

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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.  

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Curve-billed Thrashers

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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. 

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

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Anna's Hummingbirds

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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.

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

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Great Horned Owls

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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. 

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

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