Category: Birds

The Joy of the Familiar

A male Scott’s oriole sings from atop flower buds on a saguaro in McDowell Sonoran Preserve in Scottsdale, Arizona on May 29, 2024. Original: _A674574.ARW

While I enjoy scenic views my favorite part of hiking is seeing animals and plants, so I love visiting trails over and over and over and over and seeing friends both new and familiar. On this occasion a Scott’s oriole singing atop the flower buds of a saguaro, I had seen it in the area on previous hikes. Nothing exotic about the location, I’m standing on the path between the parking lot and the trailhead structure. But what beauty there was to be seen!

📷: Sony A6700 | Sony 100-400mm | Sony 1.4X
🗓️: May 29, 2024

The Courtship Ritual

A greater roadrunner perches on a boulder with a dead zebra-tailed lizard in its beak in McDowell Sonoran Preserve in Scottsdale, Arizona on April 20, 2024. Original: _A678074.ARW

We came across this roadrunner with a dead zebra-tailed lizard in its mouth and hung back so as not to scare it off its meal. Instead of eating it though it repeatedly made long calls, I assume a courtship ritual and Bear and I were both rather flattered. Eventually it crossed over and started again from a more distant perch, at which point I felt we could continue on without disturbing it.

The desert is full of surprises.

📷: Sony A6700 | Sony 100-400mm | Sony 1.4X
🗓️: April 20, 2024

A greater roadrunner calls out with a dead zebra-tailed lizard in its beak in McDowell Sonoran Preserve in Scottsdale, Arizona on April 20, 2024. Original: _A678037.ARW

Tree Topper

A male phainopepla perches above a pile of desert mistletoe berry detritus in McDowell Sonoran Preserve in Scottsdale, Arizona

Perhaps this winter I should top the Christmas tree with a phainopepla ornament, they certainly make a lovely tree topper. Desert mistletoe berries are a favored food but I’ll pass on replicating the debris field of detritus beneath them, fresh clumps are a giveaway of a preferred perch.

📷: Sony A6700 | Sony 100-400mm | Sony 1.4X
🗓️: February 14, 2024

Mixed Feelings

A great horned owl perches with its eyes closed in the last light of the day in McDowell Sonoran Preserve in Scottsdale, Arizona on December 27, 2023. Original: _A672991.ARW

I have photographed owls here with a variety of focal lengths over the past year, in December I lugged out my biggest telephoto for a close view. As the sun sank behind a mountain, my favorite moment as usual was when the last bit of soft light fell on the sleepy hunter. It was so lovely and peaceful but I had mixed feelings as locals have created two paths that look like they lead directly beneath the boulders. In a Phoenix park there’s a successful nest in a saguaro right next to an official trail, so perhaps these owls will also tolerate the human intrusion, just wish they didn’t have to.

📷: Sony A6700 | Canon 500mm | Canon 1.4X
🗓️: December 27, 2023