Quite a disaster the last couple weeks at BirdingPI.com: folks infected with COVID, the Photo Editor in the hospital with a burst appendix, & (most impactfully) a broken coffee machine in the BirdingPI.com break room.
Anyway, back to irregular updates w/ Part II of a late June morning hike along the Gull Point Trail.
Seemingly no better place in the greater Tucson area for seeing amazing Violet-crowned Hummingbird than Tucson Audubon’s Paton Center for Hummingbirds in Patagonia, AZ. (Based on regular sightings + ease of access.)
Plus lots and lots of other hummingbirds and other birds. Following are Broad-billed Hummingbird (or mixed/unknown hummingbirds) unless otherwise noted:
Violet-crowned Hummingbird @ feeder:
Bonus Gray Hawk flying over nearby/adjacent Nature Conservancy property:
A great fieldtrip/outing with the SE Arizona Birding Festival to the de Anza trail at Santa Gertrudis Lane. Beautiful woods and riparian habitat along the Santa Cruz River. This section of the Santa Cruz River is apparently fed with treated wastewater from Nogales, AZ, but also subject to an increased flow & flooding in the wet/monsoon season. (The previous two days, the trail south – which we took on this trip – was flooded out.)
Lots of Gray Hawk activity in this location generally, including this GHIF by the road:
With overcast (even a little rain), early morning lighting, & thick woodland, very challenging photography conditions with a “not very fast” lens (f6.3) = a lot of the shots on this trip did not come out well enough for posting. That being said, so great to see beautiful Thick-billed Kingbird:
This bird was flycatching for feeding young = very cool to see.
Perhaps the “bird of the entire Arizona trip,” an amazing female Green Kingfisher. This species has been on the “really would like to see it” list for ages.
Also great to see Tropical Kingbird:
Cassin’s Kingbird and Bridled Titmouse also seen on this outing, but unfortunately no pictures.
Finally, two shots of elusive Bewick’s Wren (supposedly pronounced “Buick’s Wren”):
Directions to this spot: take I19 from Tucson to the Santa Gertrudis/Tumacácori exit, as if you’re going to the Tumacácori Mission historic sight. Take two lefts to the frontage road, then a couple hundred feet to Santa Gertrudis Lane. A large, metal archway marks the lane. Plenty of parking along the road; bird along the lane to either de Anza Trail north or south, both obviously marked. There are some vague “No Trespassing” signs by the entrance to Santa Gertrudis, but the lane is open for access to the National de Anza trail + birding.
Part II of misc. bird content from Christopher Columbus Park:
Still more Great-tailed Grackle:
More Collared Dove (a.k.a. Eurasian Collared Dove):
A nice, if difficult to photograph, series of female Broad-billed Hummingbird, flycatching in a cloud of gnats:
It’s gray, it’s black, but thankfully (for the residents of the US desert southwest) lacks a “strange, mewing, cat-like” call. So not a Gray Catbird!, but a female (probably) Black-tailed Gnatcatcher:
And on a lighter note (pun intended), it’s a bonus section of bad owl photography! It was 5AM at the BIRDS field station, just the barest hint of dawn in the east. Outside, the calls of two Great Horned Owls! (“Hoot, hoot.” “Hoot, hoot.”) What else to do but run outside with the “giant camera completely inappropriate for low light photography” for some long-exposure, hand-held shots? Nikon 600mm f6.3 lens @ 1/8-1/10 second, ISO 25,600, handheld w/o flash. Amazingly (after a lot of post-processing), might actually be able to tell these are owls! (Note the nice talon detail.) Also interesting to see these owls were perched on nearby power lines. (Somewhere there’s of a picture of both owls together, which will be posted once it’s found someday in all the memory cards from Arizona.)
Coming up soon, more gloomy photography!
Back to the greater Tucson, AZ area with bird content from Christopher Columbus Park and its great mix of ‘suburban lake’ + surrounding desert/mesquite environment:
Great sighting of 6-7 Neotropic Cormorant:
ID tip: relative to Double-crested Cormorant, lacks yellow colouration around the eye/upper beak area:
Compare to this picture of Double-crested Cormorant taken recently at South Pier in Erie, PA:
With dry conditions and scant wildflowers, not a great early August in Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest (outside Pinetop/Lakeside, AZ) for hummingbirds. However, lots of Pygmy Nuthatch and Spotted Towhee activity, e.g., as per this medley taken along the stream/old dams above the AZ Game & Fish hatchery:
Some nice shots of Yellow-rumped Warbler (juvenile):
Back to the bayside beach along the ‘official outer’ (inland) Gull Point Trail Saturday afternoon, with a focus on lovely Semipalmated Sandpiper:
Note the partial feet webbing = ‘semipalmated:’
Plus bonus shorebirds:
More Least Sandpiper (note green-yellow legs):
Next time, it’s a ‘Return to the land of the pygmies!’
Is “more hummingbirds” the #1 birding reason to visit the desert & mountain US southwest? Maybe, but probably. Case in point, this gorgeous (wow!) male Purple Shooting Star outside the BIRDS field station:
[Editor’s note: Recall this is what we’re calling Costa’s Hummingbird now, absent official progress on the ‘de-Auduboning’ of honorific bird names.]
Relative to backyard/urban settings (e.g., water + feeder), the main Sonoran Desert hummingbirds (e.g., Anna’s & Costa’s) are rather territorial. These shots are of the beautiful “male in charge” of the rear desert habitat outside the BIRDS field station.
There was a question whether BirdingPI.com features AI content. Rest assured, other than occasional AI sharpening courtesy of Topaz Labs, 100% of BirdingPI.com content is made by Japanese digital cameras + ambient light + luck. [Photo Editor’s note: also human-directed photo editing. Ahem.] Real AI content would be much easier/better, such as these really very nice images of Bell’s Vireo on pyracantha generated using Fotor:
[Editor’s note: Most BirdingPI.com bird/animal content is captured using Nikon Z series (mirrorless interchangeable lens) cameras. Nikon Z series cameras are designed in Japan and manufactured in Thailand. Most Nikon Z series lenses are manufactured in China.]