Texas Canyon and Benson - December 5, 2023

 Heading west from Willcox, Interstate 10 passes through Texas Canyon, where there is a rest area in the midst of colorful boulders that dominate the canyon.  As a lover of rocks, I have long considered this to be my favorite rest stop on this freeway.









Interstate 10 also goes through Benson, which has a water treatment facility that attracts water fowl and allows the public to view them.  On this day, there wasn't a great variety of ducks, but the ones there were closer than those at Cochise Lake.

Canvasback (M)

American Wigeon (M)

American Wigeon (F)

Northern Shoveler (M)

 Returning home, I passed some lovely fall colors.











Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ash Canyon - June 17, 2025

Image
 When I arrived , there were already three cars in the parking area, so I knew this would be a more social day than last visit.  Not long after getting there, a woman approached me and said there was a Diamondback Rattlesnake near the water feature along the main path.  I went with her to check it out while she told me the snake had crawled under her bench on his way to the rocky water feature.  She was alerted by numerous birds gathering around the area and chirping like crazy.  The woman said she is from Denver, but grew up in Tucson, pointing out she had never seen snakes in Tucson, but sees them frequently in Colorado.  Our snake was partially hidden, so these are the best photos I could get. Western Diamondback Western Diamondback      As far as the birds go, it was pretty much the same group we've been seeing the past few weeks. Brown-headed Cowbird (M) House Finch (M) House Finch (F) Anna's (F) Bullock's Oriole (M) Bullock's Oriole (J)...
Read more

Ash Canyon - June 9, 2025

Image
 Once again, I arrived early to find I had the place to myself.  Tim is visiting his mother in Oregon, and volunteers Melody and Rick strolled in shortly after 8 am.  And, that was it until I left around 9:30 am.  It's a shame, because the morning was beautiful and there were plenty of birds around.  Even a Lark Sparrow showed up after I thought they were gone for the season. Spotted Towhee Anna's (F) House Finch (M) Brown-headed Cowbird (F) Brown-headed Cowbird (M) Curve-billed Thrasher White-winged Dove Scott's Oriole (M) Scott's Oriole (F) Bullock's Oriole (F) Acorn Woodpecker (M) Gila Woodpecker (M) Black-headed Grosbeak (M) Black-headed Grosbeak (F) Bewick's Wren Rufous-crowned Sparrow Lucy's Warbler (M) Broad-billed (M) Lark Sparrow Anna's (M)  
Read more

Ash Canyon - April 28, 2025

Image
 We had much the same lineup as in recent days, with a couple of migrating warblers added to the mix.  I was pleased to see them, since it had been years since I had seen either species. I did make an effort to get more hummingbird photos, so that is a slight change from the latest updates. Broad-tailed (F) Lucifer (M) Yellow-rumped Warbler Broad-billed (M) Townsend's Warbler (M) Ladder-backed Woodpecker (M) Anna's (F)       Black-throated Gray Warbler (M) Pine Siskin Bewick's Wren Lesser Goldfinch (F) Chipping Sparrow Scott's Oriole (M)      
Read more