Monday, March 6, 2017

The Long and Short Of It


Ambitious and unrestrained for 4 days, I took my birding on the road.  I didn't plan a thing.  I just let it unfold as it would.  And spontaneity happened!


We watched as this male Red-tailed Hawk captured this Western Patchnose Snake to present to the female as a gift.  A sign that spring is here and that nesting is about to begin for many birds in our desert.


We climbed the high elevations and found a pair of Arizona Woodpeckers hungrily tapping on the bark for a little snack.

Arizona Woodpecker
And then, we discovered this Long-eared Owl resting in the shadows.


So we got to thinking.......

Black-throated Sparrow
Could we find the Short-eared Owl that had been reported recently?


No luck, but that didn't matter. 


Other rarities popped up for us during our search like this Gray Catbird below!


And who could resist this beautiful Pyrrhuloxia?


Or the mesmerizing blue grays of the Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay?


Or the orange sherbert of an Olive Warbler....



Or the colorful song of a Greater Pewee?


Simply put.  It's fun to show people around beautiful Southern Arizona and help them find a lifer or two.


It's time to get back on track and seek out new life and new civilizations.  Arizona is my home but there are new birds that must be discovered!  Stay tuned for a very special Las Aventuras next week.

Crissal Thrasher
 

11 comments:

  1. Now that is how i like birding, just to let it happen and see what turns up and I am never disappointed. Beaautiful birds you saw and photographed in this post

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  2. Hello, Chris! Looks like an outing trip. The birds are wonderful. Love the hawk with the snake and the pretty Olive Warbler. Gorgeous photos. Happy Monday, enjoy your day and the new week ahead!

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  3. Gorgeous photos and a wonderful selection of bird species. Sounds like you had the perfect break :)

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  4. It all goes to prove that ad-hoc birding really can get amazing results. A delightful post, Chris, with some great images.

    Best wishes to you both - - - Richard

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  5. Oh Chris...you made some wonderful finds! Serendipity is sometimes the best!

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  6. A greater adventure than this one? Hard to imagine! (Except from you -- from you, I believe any and all adventures.) You saw wonderful birds on this outing. I remember spotting that pyrol (I still can't spell it) when we were in Arizona and what a wonder it is. The long-eared owl is wonderful! I don't have owl karma at all (except for the burrowing ones in CCoral -- who do everything to help short of jumping in front of your camera and hollering 'take my picture'. Even I get them!! )

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  7. Wow, I can only dream of seeing these birds. Fantastic pictures, thanks for sharing them.

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  8. Fantastic series of birds! Great photos, as always!

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  9. Le Pyrrhuloxia est magnifique ;-)
    CĂ©line & Philippe

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  10. Sometimes we can 'over plan' things - good to just let things happen sometimes.

    Cheers - Stewart M - In Melbourne, but jet-lagged!

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  11. Wow, I really liked those beautiful pictures!!! All those birds are amazingly pretty. Thanks for sharing:)
    Jessi

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Thanks for stopping by!