Category: Birds

I’ll Take the Rain

Raindrops fall on the head of a red-winged blackbird on the auto tour at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge in Ridgefield, Washington on October 1, 2017. Original: _DSC0185.ARW

Raindrops accumulate on the head of a red-winged blackbird on a damp day in the Pacific Northwest. Brings back a lot of memories of finding a favorite spot on the auto tour at Ridgefield, rolling down the windows, and reveling in the rain. I didn’t know it at the time but this was my penultimate visit before we left Oregon.

📷: Sony A6500 | Canon 500mm | Canon 1.4X
🗓️: October 1, 2017

Sidelight

A female phainopepla perches on an ocotillo branch in Scottsdale, Arizona on December 13, 2023. Original: _A672013.ARW

Two of my favorite things, a phainopepla and an ocotillo, side lit by the rising sun. Ocotillos have been a revelation since we moved to the desert though I struggle with how to capture that love in pictures. The past couple of nights I’ve sat out in the dark watching the meteor showers, positioning myself behind one of our ocotillos so that in the darkness its inky fingers reached out to Orion as shooting stars flew past.

📷: Sony A6700 | Sony 100-400mm | Sony 1.4X
🗓️: December 13, 2023

The Night Owls

A great horned owl perches with its eyes closed on a rocky ledge in a large boulder in McDowell Sonoran Preserve in Scottsdale, Arizona on November 21, 2023

Two night owls, one on each side of the camera. One of us has excellent vision, one of us doesn’t get dizzy when standing on a high ledge, both think mushrooms and green beans are disgusting. My favorite image from a set right as a mountain started to block the setting sun.

📷: Sony A6700 | Sony 100-400mm | Sony 1.4X
🗓️: November 21, 2023

Who Can It Be Knocking At My Door?

An American bittern stand on ice and looks into tall grasses at Rest Lake on the Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge auto tour in Ridgefield, Washington. Original: _MG_2137.CR2

As arctic conditions grip the desert with overnight lows in the 40’s and 50’s, a throwback to a cold New Year’s Day in 2011 when I was watching a bittern work a frozen channel on the auto tour at Ridgefield. Unfortunately for the vole living its best life in the tall grasses, a bittern neither knocks nor cares if you answer. In some ways they remind me of roadrunners here in the desert, both relentless hunters with diverse palettes relying on surprise, the bitterns via stealth, roadrunners via speed.

📷: Canon 7D | Canon 100-400mm
🗓️: January 1, 2011

Surprise Test

A greater roadrunner perches on a rock in McDowell Sonoran Preserve in Scottsdale, Arizona on November 21, 2023. Original: _A670090.ARW

Though I see them frequently in the neighborhood I rarely see roadrunners in the local preserve and have never photographed one there. So of course as I took a quick hike to test out a camera so newly arrived I hadn’t yet set it up to my liking, the first animal I see is a roadrunner posing on a boulder. So lovely to see, as their name implies while they can fly they prefer to walk, and can really scoot when they want to.

📷: Sony A6700 | Sony 100-400mm | Sony 1.4X
🗓️: November 21, 2023

Morning Prayers

A Harris's hawk silhouetted on saguaro blossoms at sunrise, surrounded by bees. Taken on the Latigo Trail in McDowell Sonoran Preserve in Scottsdale, Arizona on June 10, 2023. Original: _RAC6918.ARW

A Harris’s hawk silhouetted on saguaro blossoms at sunrise, surrounded by bees. A feeding frenzy often follows when the giants bloom though I didn’t get that sense so much this year. To be fair I wasn’t able to get up early very often on the weekends this spring, on this occasion I struggled to sleep and decided to make the best of it. It was a planned short hike, soon it was back home to join my wife and Bear for a hike in a county park.

📷: Sony A6600 | Sony 100-400mm | Sony 1.4X
🗓️: June 10, 2023

Ol’ Three Eyes

The back of the head of a male American kestrel shows three black spots, taken on the auto tour at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge in Ridgefield, Washington on January 2, 2011. Original: _MG_3116.CR2

Another one for the “I Take It You Trust Me” collection, three eyes in the back of the head of a male kestrel. Taken on the auto tour at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge, I loved how close you could watch the animals without disturbing them, this little falcon was cleaning his feathers. I see kestrels more often in the desert surprisingly enough but I’ll never see them this close again. Leastwise not until I’m 50 feet tall, I’m doing my stretches but no progress to report.

📷: Canon 7D | Canon 500mm | Canon 1.4X
Date: January 2, 2011

A Welcome Return

A male phainopepla stretches while perched atop an ocotillo on the Chuckwagon Trail in McDowell Sonoran Preserve in Scottsdale, Arizona on October 27, 2023. Original: _RAC9485.ARW

I would have thought most desert animals would go into hiding during the hottest months and only emerge when the temperatures cooled but for some of my favorites it’s the other way round, so the arrival of more comfortable weather carries some sadness alongside. A notable exception are phainopepla who fly in for the fall and fill me with such delight, they’re here in numbers now and quietly encourage me on my hikes from many a palo verde or ocotillo. Yesterday this male was stretching and showing off the white bars on the underside of his primary wing feathers, I almost got a shot with his wings fully extended above his head but the tiny buffer on my Sony filled and it couldn’t take any more pictures.