Heading back to outside BIRDS HQ in Casas Adobes, AZ this past mid-August, early morning, featuring a gorgeous male Purple Shooting Star (a.k.a. Costa’s Hummingbird): Also Curve-billed Thrasher: [Editor’s note: after this photo shoot, the litter in question (the aluminum can), resulting from localized flooding in a nearby wash, was safely moved to recycling.]