Arizona Photography

 After a week of being stuck inside, I was more than ready to go out and photograph birds.  Since Ash Canyon Bird Sanctuary is closed on Thursday mornings, I went to San Pedro House only seven miles from home.  There were a great many birds there, but not many species.  In particular, there were a gazillion female Red-winged Blackbirds, but no males.  I don't recall ever seeing this species at Ash Canyon, although I'm not sure why.     This location always has an abundance of White-crowned Sparrows, including some juveniles. A cooperative male Northern Cardinal showed off his color. A Canyon Towhee and an Abert's Towhee were there, also.  You have to look closely to tell these two apart. Both male and female Pyrrhuloxia posed nicely for me.  The females can be hard to distunguish from their cousins the female Northern Cardinal. Both male and female Gila Woodpeckers made an appearance, but I only got shots of the female. House Finches seem to always be in pairs, possibly a s

 It was another slow morning at Ash Canyon, so I didn't hang around for long.  To make matters worse, two ladies arrived and sat next to me, chattering constantly and disturbing the birds.  Occasionally, the chatter would be interrupted by a loud cough from one of the ladies.  When that happened, all the birds flew away and didn't return for 5-10 minutes.  I finally gave up and left. Mexican Jay Mexican Jay House Finch (M) House Finch (F) Canyon Towhee White-winged Doves Curve-billed Thrasher Orange-crowned Warbler Acorn Woodpecker Pyrrhuloxia (M) Lesser Goldfinch (M) Hearing reports of waterfowl at Parker Canyon Lake, I made the beautiful drive through the mountains to check it out.  Taking the shortest route, through Fort Huachuca Army Base, the trip took an hour.  At the lake, many of the ducks were on the far side, out of range, but I did find a cove where several opportunities were waiting. American Coot Mallard (M) Gadwall (M) Gadwall (F) Hooded Merganser (M) Hooded Merga

 Things are still pretty slow at the local birding spots, but it's still fun to socialize while watching the birds that do show up.  The numbers are good, just not the number of different species.  In particular, most of the hummingbirds have gone farther south, leaving those few that stay here year round.  While the climate here is generally good, lows mostly in the 40s so far, there have been a couple of mornings with lows of 32 F.  Brrrrr.  Even the birds that are here tend to hunker down until later in the day to avoid the really cold mornings. House Finch (M) House Finch (F) White-winged Dove White-winged Dove Acorn Woodpecker Northern Cardinal (F) Northern Cardinal (F) & White-throated Sparrow Northern Cardinal (F) & White-throated Sparrow Pine Siskin Pyrrhuloxia (M) Pyrrhuloxia (M) Bewick's Wren Lesser Goldfinches (F & M) Lesser Goldfinch (M) Lesser Goldfinch (F) Yellow-rumped Warbler (F) White-crowned Sparrow White-crowned Sparrow (J) Red-tailed Hawk