Arizona Photography

The sanctuary is still enjoying the Hummingbird migration, with hundreds flying here, there and everywhere.  One of the regular birders, I'll call him an expert, told me he had ID'ed eleven different species that morning.  Unfortunately, several left before I arrived so I only spotted eight species.  I took more than a thousand photos, which required quite a few hours to eliminate the poor compositions, out of focus, or near duplicates before editing the keepers.  For me, it's difficult to cull photos, since I tend to keep anything close to acceptable. As I've said before, my ID's may not be totally accurate.  Some of the species, especially females and immature males, can be very hard to differentiate. Lucifer (M) Lucifer (M) Anna's (M) Anna's (M) Anna's (F) Black-chinned (F) Black-chinned (F) Broad-tailed (F) Black-chinned (F) Broad-billed (M) Broad-billed (M) Rufous (F) Rufous (F) Gulf Fritillary Curve-billed Thrasher Mexican Jay Rivoli's (M) Rivo...

 Once again,  the Hummingbirds were plentiful at the Ash Canyon Bird Sanctuary.  The Rufous Hummingbirds that I've labelled as "Juvenile" could actually be either male or female.  I can't distinguish between them, and even experts have difficulty with that species.  Of course, there are lots of other cases where I have trouble with identifications. Anna's (M) Anna's (M) Anna's (F) Anna's (F) Rufous (J) Rufous (J) Rufous (J) Lucifer (M) Black-chinned (M) Black-chinned (M) Gulf Fritillary Gulf Fritillary Lark Sparrow Hooded Oriole (F) House Finch (F) House Finch (M) Mexican Jay Acorn Woodpecker (M) Broad-billed (M) Lesser Goldfinch (M) Canyon Towhee

 For a change of scenery, I visited San Pedro House this day despite the fact that my luck hasn't been good there recently.  And, this proved to be the case once again.  As it turned out, I saw more butterflies than birds, but I like butterflies, too.  I suspect the small number of birds there is a seasonal thing and that they will return before long. Cloudless Sulphur Black-chinned (M) Black-chinned (M) Black-chinned (F) Black-chinned (F) House Finch (F) House Finch (M) Cassin's Kingbird Mourning Dove Queen Queen Queens Lesser Goldfinch (F) Gila Woodpecker (F)