Beautiful hawks yesterday morning at Catalina State Park, Oro Valley, AZ:
This Cooper’s Hawk flew into a tree and then seemed fairly unconcerned about relatively close human presence. Always nice to have a cooperative bird model subject!
Coming up soon, hummingbirds!
Dateline: 30 July 2024
ASIH Warning: The 2nd half of this post contains snake-related content. Viewer discretion is advised.
Just two days in the greater Tucson, AZ area and the ‘crazy animals’ are coming out of the woodwork. #nature. First up, right outside the BIRDS field station Monday afternoon, an absolutely gorgeous Coyote (Canis latrans):
Next up, an amazing Desert Horned Lizard (Phrynosoma platyrhinos):
Finally, nothing puts a spring in your step like a surprise rattlesnake! From this morning at Catalina State Park, a beautiful Western Diamondback Rattlesnake (Crotalus atrox):
This individual was crossing further up the trail, but close enough to rear up slightly (see above) + lots of rattling:
Heading off into the grass:
[Photo Editor’s Note: In the “funny/unfortunate photo background” category, here’s the uncropped version of the shot above, apparently of a Coyote eating a piece of carrot cake:
Part I of a special 8-part series of a morning hike along the Gull Point Trail in late June, starting with a medley of Yellow Warbler x Spotted Sandpiper:
Missed the publication cutoff yesterday due to travel, but a ‘double post’ today, and lots of great birds sighted outside the BIRDS field station yesterday in Tucson, AZ, starting with a beautiful Brown-crested Flycatcher:
Lovely male Verdin:
The Mourning Dove desert equivalent is, well, Mourning Dove – lots of Mourning Dove all over. But also plenty of White-winged Dove, as in this very nice shot:
Weather in Tucson Sunday: sunny morning/afternoon w/ high of about 38 deg C (100 deg F), transitioning to monsoon clouds (thunder/lightning) and rain late afternoon with temps around a pleasant 26 deg C (80 deg F); flash flood warnings off to the east due to heavy rain in the mountains.
Part 5 of content from last Saturday at Presque Isle State Park, along the Gull Point Trail. Outer Gull Point is the big attraction (and rightfully so), but there’s also great bird activity on the bay side beaches, by the outer official/inland trail “big bend” & also the beach access just before where the restricted area starts. This is the former:
These are great sites for getting closer to beautiful birds like this lovely Semipalmated Plover:
And this juvenile Spotted Sandpiper:
Also, as always this time of year, Killdeer:
Medley of more Spotted Sandpiper, Semipalmated Plover, & Killdeer:
The BirdingPI.com summer staff hiatus starts tomorrow, but what else to do on vacation but birding and bird photography? Coming up: back (once again) to the BIRDS (BirdingPI.com Regional Desert Southwest) field station in Tucson, AZ, for the SE Arizona Birding Festival, etc.! Meanwhile, there’s lots (and lots) of recent PI content in the hopper!
Ahead of what looks like a nice weekend in Erie County, PA, catching up on recent ‘special reports:’
Back with more general content from Gull Point from this past Saturday at Presque Isle State Park:
Three shots of Semipalmated Sandpiper:
ID tip: short black bill, slight collar, black legs.
It’s a beautiful Greater Yellowlegs at outer Gull Point, Saturday morning at Presque Isle State Park (guest starring various Bank and Barn Swallows):
Early AM photography = frequently poor results from shade, dim conditions, or bad backlighting. These mostly quite nice shots (thank you, side lighting) are from Saturday morning on the hike out to Gull Point @ Presque Isle State Park:
Dateline: 20 July 2024
Another beautiful/epic weekend at Presque Isle State Park, with warm-mild/spectacular weather and plenty of bird activity along the Gull Point Trail. Based on this carcass atop the old observation platform, however, not such a nice weekend, apparently, for a gull:
Gull Point highlights: Whimbrel, Tricolored Heron (still hanging around since last weekend), Willet, Semipalmated Plover, & unusual Green Heron volume (5+ spotted at one time). Of note, currently extremely ‘buggy’ @ outer Gull Point, with concurrent amazing (literally amazing) swallow, etc. activity – at times, hundreds and hundreds of mostly Bank Swallow (w/ Barn Swallow, Red-winged Blackbird, etc.) swirling about in flight. (More on this in later posts.)
First saw this Whimbrel already in flight; subsequently dropped into the brush/dunes on the south side of outer Gull Point. Not seen again, sadly, despite lots of observing.
This is (apparently) the same juvenile Tricolored Heron as seen both Saturday and Sunday last weekend. Spotted again both Saturday and Sunday this weekend:
Despite challenging conditions (long distance, backlit morning lighting), still a nice shot of Tricolored Heron (foreground) & Yellowlegs (background):
Not a very good shot (challenging distance + lighting), but here’s the Willet (l) and a (probably) Greater Yellowlegs (r):
Less than ideal lighting, but still a cool view of Tricolored Heron exhibiting “shade water to attract fish” foraging behavior:
Trail conditions: locally muddy where usual, e.g., Gull Point ‘inner official trail:’ fairly wet/muddy.*
Coming up soon, “The Heron who would be a Goose.” Also, butterflies on rotten fish!
[Editor’s note: triple ‘r’ alliteration for the win!]
[* Editor’s note 2: seen multiple instances of folks starting on the Gull Point Trail at the official trailhead, along the ‘inner official trail,’ then turning back in discouragement due to mud/water. Hint: that section of trail comes out at the beach again soon enough, so just follow the beach in the first place!]