This canyon towhee had a mouthful of bugs, perhaps it had a nest nearby full of hungry youngsters.
Tag: perching
Welcome to the Neighborhood
I keep a spreadsheet of what animals I see each month not only in the parks I visit but in places I’ve lived. During our 16 years in the urban neighborhood of our Portland house I recorded 10 bird species for the month of March. In a few days at our new house in Scottsdale I’ve seen 13! Including this lovely male cardinal who sang to me on the day the mover’s arrived with our belongings. He serenaded Ellie and I this morning as we relaxed on the back porch. Verdin were building a nest in the buckhorn cholla in the common area below the house. Lesser goldfinches flitted about, curve-billed thrashers called out. A pair of Gambel’s quail fed near the house as Sam and Trixie watched eagerly from the windows. Phainopepla, mourning doves, house finches, house sparrows, gila woodpeckers, a pair of Harris’s hawks soaring overhead. I stood dumbfounded watching a robin, a bird I’ve known from everywhere I’ve lived but had no idea lived in Arizona. Yesterday on my first commute home from a work a roadrunner darted across the road (with no coyote in hot pursuit).
With all these birds so close at hand I may not go hiking anymore! (Just kidding)
A New Backyard Bird
The first bird I saw from the backyard of the new house was a male phainopepla, sitting in a tree in a narrow wash beside our yard. That’s a new one for me, I’ve seen quite a few birds in the backyard of our rental house but until now the phainopepla I had only seen on the trails. I saw this male on the Marcus Landslide Trail where they were numerous this winter, I haven’t been back recently but will soon as the trailhead is only a 10 minute drive from the new house.
Easter Hymns
One of my favorite rites of spring when we lived in the Northwest was listening to the savannah sparrows sing in the meadows. I met this one on an Easter morning 12 years ago, I had to wait a while to get the picture as it spent most of its time facing the other direction, singing to the other sparrows.
A Bird in the Palm But Not in the Hand
A mourning dove perches in a palm tree in the backyard of our rental house. We have a couple of dwarf palms in the backyard of the new house but they don’t allow full-size palms (there are native trees in front and back).
Joy & Mourning
One of the joys of our rental house has been the abundance of doves, from the larger white-winged doves to the little Inca doves. After the white-wings migrated out it was the mourning doves who were the dominant bird we saw all winter, providing endless entertainment for the cats who watched them from the windows.
I’m Flying!
Almost, little one, almost.
Peek-a-boo
I see you, you see me, mockingbird atop the tree.
In My Broken Arms I Will Carry You
A male gilded flicker looks out over McDowell Sonoran Preserve from the broken arms of a dead saguaro.
A Warm Welcome
Last night we had a lovely time with my aunt and uncle who were in town. Before dinner we took them up to show them the new house and as I stepped out of the car a curve-billed thrasher serenaded me from across the street. This lovely thrasher is from December on the Marcus Landslide Trail, I’ve been itching to get back to this trail but it’s really close to the new house so I’ve been focusing on other trails when I have both time and energy to go out.
Boolie 