Fall in Phoenix
Fall in South Bend, Indiana
I just got back from a week in South Bend. The only time I was able to get away to a park I forgot my camera and had to use my cell phone! Fortunately, I did not see any good birds while there…
Woods Canyon Lake, east of Payson, that is. It’s one of our favorite places but we hadn’t been there yet this year. It didn’t disappoint and the temperature was 70°! We saw some areas of the lake we hadn’t seen before.
Some of the animals appreciated the peanuts (and a little popcorn) we brought for them.
Gray-collared Chipmunk
Golden-mantled Ground Squirrel
Chipmunks have stripes through their faces, squirrels do not.
Hermit Thrushes (last one is a juvenile)
Okay, I’m sorry, I have way too many photos of the following birds but they were so loudly excited about the peanuts and so pretty that I couldn’t stop. I still have way more; maybe a post featuring just them will be forthcoming:
Steller’s Jays
Almost as raucous as the jays were several of these guys:
Common Ravens
Gilded Flicker
A Hint of Fall
Awesome, as always, to be back in the woods.
Ash-throated Flycatcher
I met a very “confiding” bird when we went back to Seven Springs, north of Cave Creek, the other day. It really enjoyed being photographed, I think.
Some of its relatives were in a sycamore tree in one of the campgrounds. Ash-throated Flycatchers are secondary cavity nesters, meaning that they rely on nest holes originally made by other species, such as woodpeckers, or they use naturally occurring cavities in standing dead trees (Cornell). One guarded this nest while the other went to get food.
I got a lifer, only the second for 2019. Things have been tough. Bad shot:
Bewick’s Wren
It’s very lush there.
Verbena
Argentine Thistle plus Bee
Northern Mockingbird
This is what the above spot looked like in December 2017.
One more of my cooperative friend:
Previous visits to Seven Springs: December 2017 and April 2018.
Red-tailed Hawk
Isn’t he/she gorgeous? We went to another of Maricopa County’s Regional Parks the other day. It was a gloomy, cloudy day and the park left a lot to be desired. It was definitely the least attractive of all the county parks we’ve visited. This hawk was really the only redeeming factor for me.
We saw a Red-tailed Hawk 3 different times while there so I don’t know if this is the same one as the first 2 photos. The one in the first 2 photos was a very cooperative poser and there was even a little sun by then so it was a great photo op. Thank you, Hawk.
Everything else was pretty mediocre. I had a couple of target birds but we didn’t see them…
Say’s Phoebe
Vermilion Flycatcher
Not a park I would go to again but we did get a free pass to go to another county park so it kind of evened out.
Valentine’s Day is also Arizona Statehood Day. This is a very big saguaro superimposed on a 1912 map. Happy 107th Birthday, Arizona!
We went looking for birds and stuff on Butcher Jones Trail at Saguaro Lake last week. It was supposed to be birdy. As usual, it wasn’t but it was nice anyway.
Osprey
We saw more butterflies than I’ve ever seen in one place, many groups of several.
Southern Dogface (open wings) and other Sulphurs
Empress Leilia (a first)
Queen
Clark’s Grebe (lifer)
We saw this well-known guy with one foot in exactly the same place we saw him last November.
Great Blue Heron
More of the trail:
Saguaro Detail
Mesquite Bosque
We briefly stopped at Coon Bluff Recreation Area on the Lower Salt River on the way back, hoping to see some eagles, wild horses, something, but no luck. It was a pretty view, though, and the fall colors were beginning so it was worth the stop.
And now we’re on to December…
Glenrosa Journeys 