On Sunday, 13 May 2012, I ventured out to this amazing place and was not disappointed. Got to see a lot of different birds, but was not able to capture photos of all that I saw. One of the nicest birds I found was my 'first of the season' Blue Grosbeak, but alas, photos were not in the cards that day for this bird, but just seeing this bird really started the day off right. Another bird that I found fairly early in my adventure was a Summer Tanager. I have seen these birds many times, but most often they are high up in trees with fairly dense foliage or they are a bit secretive and hiding the the shadows. This male Summer Tanager actually made his presence know by posing in a bit of sunlight for me and my camera.
Summer Tanager
Another bird that I found fairly early was the Say's Phoebe. This is a very common bird in Arizona but they are always a joy to watch as they fly out and catch insects in the air, or flutter to the ground to gave an unsuspecting insect and then go back to the closest perch and devour it. This time I found a family of them with at least 2 of them being newly fledged juveniles. The young birds were not all that flighty and not yet afraid of human encroachment and the gave me some fun entertainment.
Say's Phoebe
Say's Phoebe-wing stretching
Turkey Vultures are a very common site in the state of Arizona and this one was warming up in the sun's rays early in the morning. Most people say they have a face that only a mother could love.
Turkey Vulture
The next find was a couple of Black-headed Grosbeaks who flew down into the stream of water to catch an early morning drink. It was nice to capture a male and a female in the same photo frame.
Black-headed Grosbeak
Last bird in my photo collection is a Bronzed Cowbird. While a Cowbird is usually not a birders favorite bird due to their behaviour being a parasitic bird; which means they do not build nests of their own. They lay their eggs in other birds nests and expect the host birds to raise their young, many times at the expense of the host birds babies.
Bronzed Cowbird
Mesquite wash is a fantastic habitat for many birds and a place I truly enjoy returning to time and time again. I always see many more birds than what I am able to catch on the camera, and this place is a lot of fun.
Nice work Gordon. I still haven't been to Mesquite Wash--definitely will check it out is I can find Tanagers and Grosbeaks there!
ReplyDeleteGreat shots of the Grosbeak, that is really neat to see the male and female together.
Cheers!
So far, the fires up north have not affected this area yet. Hope they get them under control very quickly. Thanks for the comments!
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