An Assortment

roadrunnerlong_edited-1

Greater Roadrunner

yrwabathing Yellow-Rumped Warbler, Audubon’s

verdin Verdin

Those photos were taken at Desert Botanical Garden a couple weeks ago when I took a friend there.

Tony and I have not gone on one of our day trips for a few weeks now but we went over to Granada Park the other day, which was a dreary day, and saw these birds:

vf1

vf2 Vermilion Flycatcher (first I’ve seen in central Phoenix area)

rndufemale Ring-necked Duck, female

wcspimm White-crowned Sparrow, first winter

giwogranada Gila Woodpecker

And then the yard birds…

bbhu1.26 Broad-billed Hummingbird, female (Yard Bird #46)

She was a new yard bird! And a rare bird for the area! I reported her on eBird and it was confirmed. These birds normally don’t come much further north than southeastern Arizona although a few others have been reported in our area this winter. I would so love a male to show up because this is what they look like (we saw this one in Madera Canyon earlier this year):

BBHU_edited-1

Aren’t they gorgeous? Of course, all hummingbirds are beautiful. The one below is an Anna’s female, you can see how different she looks from the Broad-billed female.

anna27sgirl1.26

gilawp1.26 Gila Woodpecker, male

mock1.26 Northern Mockingbird

yrwa1.26 Yellow-rumped Warbler, Audubon’s

I saw this guy a few weeks ago and then he disappeared. Now I saw another one in our yard the other day by itself so don’t know if the same one returned:

wcspfos2

wcspfos White-crowned Sparrow

And then my very favorite yard bird, Tink, was kind enough to pose away from the feeders the other day:

ocwa11.26

ocwa31.26

ocwa41.26

An amazing thing happened just before I took these photos. A hawk (Sharp-shinned, I think, but I didn’t get a photo) crashed through the mesquite tree where the feeders are looking for a snack, I guess. I know they need to eat but I was pleased it came out empty-taloned. It then landed on my neighbor’s garage while I ran in to get the camera and it took off just as I tried to get a shot. I really hope it gets its meals somewhere other than our yard…so does Tink.

ocwa21.26 Orange-crowned Warbler

November in Phoenix

Western Pygmy Blue Western Pygmy-Blue, smallest butterfly in North America

It’s been a glorious November, weather-wise, in Phoenix, following an equally glorious October.

Cone Flower

Anna's 11.2

Hummer Flight 10_edited-1 Anna’s Hummingbirds, males

Verdin DD

Verdin on Dead Branch Verdins

Svengi on Mat_edited-1 Svengali in the sunny catport (formerly the carport)

Google Sunlight Google in the sun

Goldfinch 11.4 Lesser Goldfinch, male

OCWA Round_Leaves

OCWA 2 11.3 Orange-crowned Warbler (“Tink”)

Muhly Grass

This is one of my favorite things I’ve ever bought and I think it cost about $3.99. This is Pink Muhly Grass (Regal Mist), a non-invasive grass. It was tiny when I bought it, looked like a little tuft of grass and I had to ask our yard guy to not mow it or pull it out. I planted it in the remainder of a stump of a tree we had removed. First photo shows it now in all its pink glory, 2nd photo is of the stump, 3rd photo shows it when first planted in March 2017, 4th photo shows it in November 2017. It has grown a ton since then.

Pygmy in Muhly Grass Western Pygmy-Blue in Muhly Grass

Mock on Roof

Mock in Lantana Northern Mockingbirds

Lantana Berries, delicious to all

Starling 11.2 European Starling

Skipper from Above Fiery Skipper

Autumn Finch_edited-1 House Finch

And…my 44th yard bird species…who seems to have only hung around for a couple days:

House Wren_edited-1 House Wren

It was a very cute, tiny, curious, loud visitor. I wish I could have gotten a better photo before it took off…

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Hello, October!

Desert Cottontail

Dragonfly SXG Mexican Amberwing, female

Vermiflion FC 3 SXG_edited-1

Vermilion FC 2 SXG Vermilion Flycatcher, female

October is a good month for Phoenix since the mornings and nights get cooler, although the days can still get hot. Right now, we have the remnants of Hurricane Rosa bringing us rain and clouds so it’s cooler than normal, high 70s-80s. Feels great after a long, hot summer.

The above photos were taken at Scottsdale Xeriscape Garden one day last week. I love the light there. I often see warblers there during migration but not this time.

The next few photos were taken yesterday at Desert Botanical Garden on a gloomy day. I mistakenly thought the birds would be out in full force but I was wrong again. There were a ton of Queens, though.

Queen 1

Queen 3 Queen Butterfly

Cactus Wren Lomo

Cactus Wren 2 Cactus Wrens

Quail Gambel’s Quail, male

Bee and Sunflower

Sulphur Sulphur with tattered wings

Verdin 2 Verdin, mid-snack

I just don’t know where all the migrating birds are!!! I keep looking. The following photos were taken in our yard last week. The skippers are out in full force.

Fiery Skipper in Lantana

Svengali does Elvis

It’s definitely beginning to look and feel like Fall here. Happy October!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Spring’s Arrival

Verdin

Happy Spring! I know it may not look like spring everywhere but it does here in Arizona. These first 3 shots were taken in our yard on the Vernal Equinox and the others were taken close to it.

Painted Lady on Lantana

There are actually 4 critters in the above photo, 2 besides the obvious butterfly and bee, which I didn’t see until editing the photo. The answers to this puzzle will appear at the end of this post.

Fiery Skipper on Lantana

Black-chinned Hummingbird, male

We only have Black-chinned hummers in the spring. I don’t know if this is the same one that has been coming for the last couple of years but he arrived on schedule and usually stays until May. It’s very hard to get a shot with the purple collar showing but here is one from last year. I hope he will be cooperative again this year. Right now he is very shy and skittish.

Giant Swallowtail

Anna’s Hummingbird, male

Yesterday I was at the Desert Botanical Garden, specifically looking for this one particular bird that has been there for several weeks. I’m always amazed when I can find one little bird in a big place but this time I actually did within about 10 minutes and not where he normally hangs out. He should be migrating to California soon but maybe he has decided to stay. He is molting right now so his throat feathers will be more resplendent in coming weeks but he’s still pretty cute right now.