South Mountain Park-Javalina Trail

Had the option today to tackle a trail in South Mountain Park, or head home and put some time in on the old treadmill.  Well let me tell you, 3½ miles on a hiking trail at 90° was a whole lot more fun than 1½ miles on the treadmill at home.  This was not the first time I had been on this trail, but it was close to where I work and stopping here was an easy choice.  It is a trail that ventures through some very dry areas of South Mountain Park.  Not a hot spot for birding by any means, but our avian friends are there, but you have to listen and look for them.  Came home with photos of a bunch of brown birds; not what most people would consider as an exciting bird outing.  The nicest bird that I saw but was not able to capture a photo was a Greater Roadrunner.  Always nice to find them.  So my photo album consists of common brown birds of South Mountain Park.

 

First 2 birds that I encountered was a Curve-billed Thrasher and a Mourning Dove.  The thrasher just did not want to come out in the open, so I had to settle for an 'under the bush' shot with bad lighting.  Even though they are a 'brown' bird, their gold eyes are very captivating.  The Mourning Dove is a bird that I rarely photograph, we see them on just about every birding trip and they are also common backyard feeders at my home.  Plus they are found just about everywhere in the US.

 

 Curve-billed Thrasher

 

Mourning Dove

 

Near one of the washes, I was observing a couple of Black-tailed Gnatcatchers, but got side tracked when a couple of Black-throated Sparrows flew into the base of the shrub.  So I was torn between the 2 species and what I should try to capture with the camera.  Neither one was offering me great views, but nevertheless, I attempted to capture photos anyway.  So these are the best of my feeble attempts to photograph both species.

 

 Black-tailed Gnatcatcher

 

Black-throated Sparrows-note there are 2 in this photo

 

The last birds that I was able to shoot with my camera were a Rock Wren and a female House Finch.  Sad to say, but I can't really recall ever photographing a female House Finch; usually spend more time focusing on the males.  But in reality, this female today actually presented my best bird pose of the day and in the right lighting.  So it is about time I added the female House Finch to my photo albums.  The Rock Wren was a featured bird for me sometime back on my blog.

 

 House Finch-female

 

Rock Wren



So ends my saga of 'boring brown birds' for the day.  They may be boring in coloration, but they are far from being boring when one is watching them to learn behavior or listening to them to become familiar with their calls.  They are just as fascinating as the brightly colored birds.