Well, it’s back to the mountains of east-central Arizona, with some nice birds from August in Apache–Sitgreaves National Forest outside Pinetop/Lakeside. First up, the ‘bird of the day’ (or the bird of any day, really), a BirdingPI.com ‘first sighting ever’ of the literally amazing Red Crossbill:
The offset beak facilitates seed extraction and maybe even shearing through immature/green pinecones = really cool adaptation.
Three shots of beautiful Mountain Chickadee:
For variety, three birds “at a distance” (hint – each bird is at the center of the shot):
Two of lovely Northern Flicker (red-shaft):
In eastern North America, of course, it would have a yellow feather colouration. Hence ‘yellow shaft’ (feather shaft) in the east and ‘red shaft’ in the west.
