A December to Remember

Cactus Wren Singing Carols — *Cactus Wren in Palo Verde, AZ state bird and state tree*

Hi! As December winds down and a new year is on the horizon, I wanted to wrap up our bird and cat year here in Phoenix. We tried to indulge in some holiday festivities and one was going to the Desert Botanical Garden, where we have been members for years. The above photo was taken there in the parking lot on our way out. There were very few birds around, for some reason…

One of 3 "Living Trees" at DBG — *One of three “living trees”*

I saw a lovely female Northern Flicker, Red-shafted, in our yard, so pretty!

A little after 5pm one day in our very urban central Phoenix yard, some drama ensued. I looked up and was surprised to see an immature Cooper’s Hawk on the phone lines. We have an adult Coop who shows up regularly but I hadn’t seen a young one in awhile. While excitedly grabbing a few shots, I looked up to see what it was looking at and was very surprised to see this Red-tailed Hawk enjoying someone’s innards. I’ve only ever seen a RTHA flying over our yard, never landing closeby. Soon after this shot, the Red-tailed flew off, carrying its prey, with the Coop in hot pursuit and both landed in a tree many houses down so I don’t know if the Coop was able to scavenge a little or what…the size difference was huge, though. Really a fascinating sight for me to see, a brief Wild Kingdom experience in our own yard.

I also found a Coop feather in our yard on another day. We have a mature one that also comes to visit.

And the Rosy-faced Lovebirds are regular visitors to our yard…

We have a couple of pine trees, a different type than our own pine tree, one house east of us on the far side of their lawn. It is such a pretty perch and I am always glancing up, hoping to see birds up there, and I often do…Northern Mockingbirds and Curve-billed Thrashers. I keep hoping to see an owl, hawk, raven, something even more exciting up there although I am always happy to see anyone.

And another one, a Thrasher, a couple days ago, on a gloomy day…

We went to some other holiday gatherings, Phoenix Festival of the Arts, where my husband’s band played plus Glendale Glitters, where we met my cousin and his wife, and we had a guest over at Christmas. Mingled and chatted with many neighbors and had a pretty sociable month, all in all.

And, of course, the indoor and outdoor cats indulged in some holiday festivities and got some special treats. Ferguson was certain he heard reindeer paws on the house top and has been meowing the Gene Autry song ever since…

Up on the Housetop, Reindeer Pause (Paws)

Happy Holidays, Happy New Year!

Thanksgiving 2025

Lewis's Woodpecker, 1 of 3 — *Lewis’s Woodpecker*

Hi! It’s Thanksgiving here in the US so have a happy one to everyone living here and Happy Thursday to those who don’t! I totally missed an October post and…almost a November post. I guess I have been sort of busy and I seem to have a lot of photos to share so I will only choose a few faves.

The woodpecker above is rare in our area of metro Phoenix, AZ, and the park where it is scavenging for palm nuts and other goodies is not too far from me so I went to see it. So easy to find, not a lifer, but definitely my best views of one to date. Such a pretty bird and so fun to see a rarity. I took a ton of photos but I guess the above one is my favorite. It was a cloudy, rainy day so the lighting was a little wonky.

A couple weeks ago we went to our closest city park, where I basically began birding years ago, and saw a couple very pretty birds that I don’t see that often…a Wood Duck drake and a Green Heron.

What a handsome duck and unusual for this area this time of year…or really, not common at any time. He was hanging with the Mallards. Close by was the small heron:

It was fun to watch it intently searching for a meal…

We had out-of-state relatives visiting in October and we made a visit to the Lower Salt River in Tonto National Forest and saw the Salt River Wild Horses, always amazing, and a joy to see. We only saw 4 horses out of the 300 or so herd but it’s always exciting to see them eating eel grass from the river.

And these 2 little cuties were also gazing out at the river, Arizona Rock Squirrels, so sweet.

A couple shots from our yard:

Gila Woodpecker, male. — *Gila Woodpecker, male*

Gila Woodpecker, Female — *Gila Woodpecker, female*

Rosy-faced Lovebird with Sunflower Seeds — *Rosy-faced Lovebird*

Breezy Northern Mockingbird — *Northern Mockingbird*

Anna's in the Moonlight — *Anna’s Hummingbird*

And Ferguson will be mad if I don’t show you at least one of his Halloween photos:

To close, we also went to Liberty Wildlife, a local rescue, yesterday, a lovely place that does a lot of good and met some of their Animal Ambassadors!

And, now, we all head into the “Winter Holiday” season, however you celebrate it…a busy time of year for many but be sure to relax and do some of the things YOU want to do…it is supposed to be enjoyable.

HAPPY WINTER HOLIDAY SEASON!

Autumn Equinox

Autumn has officially arrived. It’s a little vague in the Phoenix area because it still gets to at least 100 daily but the mornings and nights are cooler and you can tell Fall is in the air.

So I have tried to get back out birding more again. I have been pretty lax about it for the last couple years due to a few factors but I miss seeing exciting birds. Everyday I check the local rare bird alert and, lately, I’ve gone after a few and actually gotten them! But I’ve missed more than I’ve gotten…oh, well, I have been glad to add the following three birds to my life list. The Purple Gallinule is very popular and has been in the area for a month or more now. This is a Central American bird that also shows up in Florida and Texas but not really in Arizona. It seems to like it here.

And, same with this goose, it does not belong here at all. It hangs out in a local city park with a bunch of Canada Geese.

This Lark Sparrow is not a rare bird yet I did not have it on my life list. There was a whole flock of them at another city park.

And the above 2 birds were at my closest city park, Granada. The Brewer’s Sparrows migrate here in the winter but the pretty red guy is a year-round bird but always so stunning to spot one.

*Black-headed Grosbeak, female or young male* *at another city park*

Costa's Hummingbird — *Costa’s Hummingbird*

I was in search of yet another rare bird that I never saw when I saw these 2 birds, above, at 2 different Scottsdale city parks.

And then back to our yard for the rest.

I’m always pretty excited when “my” Cooper’s Hawk shows up. It definitely scatters the pigeons. I think this is a male because he seems quite small.

I Am Seen! — *Who was more surprised to catch him taking a bath? I think we both were!*

And an autumnal rainbow ends this post. I was looking for yet another rare bird that I did not find but saw this instead, over a golf course in Scottsdale.

HAPPY FALL!

Spaced Another Month

Hello. I think every summer here in not-so-delightfully-hot Phoenix, AZ, I wind up skipping a post for one of the summer months. This year it was July…super hot but so is August and so was June. However, I managed to get a few shots in the yard and a nearby park. This male Anna’s Hummingbird has been cooperative a few times lately. Other than him, I’m not seeing many hummers in our yard…unusual.

It’s grim out there, though, for the most part, and no more owl sightings, sadly. At the other end of the size spectrum is this little Verdin.

And a couple more yard birds:

Thrasher in the Pines — *Curve-billed Thrasher*

One evening when I thought it wasn’t too hot (ha!), I went to Granada Park, hoping to see something exciting. Not too exciting but cute…

It looked like it was going to monsoon (that’s what we call summer rains in Arizona) but then it did not. We have had a couple evenings of some rain since then and that’s always a good thing here…

Ferguson did a couple of photo shoots for me, modeling various of his bandanas. Here he is doing his summer internship with NASA, of course, such a smart cat.

Sending Good Vibes to one and all!

Hey, Everyone, I'm Sending You Good Vibes!

Hope your summer is nicer than ours!!!!!!! I can’t wait for autumn! Ours isn’t until November, though…

June Thrills

This actually happened in May but I’ve spent much of June hoping for a repeat performance. I was shocked to see a Great Horned Owl in our yard, definitely a new yard bird. In fact, I’ve never seen one in the neighborhood nor many other places other than the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix. So I literally almost came face-to-face with this girl…I think it’s female because it was super large…one fine day in May. I really couldn’t believe what I was seeing and did I have my camera? No, so I rushed into the house, through the house to a back room, grabbed my camera, told my husband to come outside, and headed back out, and she was still there! I soon realized why she was still there…a Northern Mockingbird was buzzing her. They are very aggressive toward threats and it may have been defending a nearby nest but it was dive-bombing her, plucking at her tail feathers, really carrying on. She actually looked scared and was panting (gular flutter). I fired off a bunch of shots over the next 5 minutes or so. Finally the mockingbird took a brief break and this girl took off!

Great Horned Owl and Northern Mockingbird

It’s been over a month now and I hope everyday that I will get another sighting. I have since found out that she has been spotted around the ‘hood, may even have a nest, but I can’t find her or it. But it is rare to see them in broad daylight so I feel honored. They have about a 1.5 square mile territory so I know she’s around but I have a feeling she has bad memories of that tree. What a beauty!!!!

So it has been hard to top that for photo ops, for sure, but here are a few other fine friends. I was definitely in owl mode so I went out to Scottsdale Community College where there are Burrowing Owls. “The college’s Center for Native and Urban Wildlife (CNUW) manages the owl habitat and engages students in research and habitat maintenance. Students track owl populations, build and maintain artificial burrows, and monitor other bird species on campus.” I went in the very late afternoon because they are most active at dawn and dusk but I guess dusk was later than I had thought. I was there a couple hours and it was hot so I left without seeing any owls. However, sharing their burrows were many Round-tailed Ground Squirrels. Apparently, they have a symbiotic relationship but I’m pretty sure a squirrel winds up being lunch sometimes. They were awfully cute so at least my trip was not in vain.

One of these days I’ll head back out there. I think dawn is more fruitful but, seriously, I’m not really up and about at 5am…more of a night owl. So here are a few more goings-on in our yard:

My sunflower harvest was not very impressive this year and I didn’t see one Lesser Goldfinch come to partake of the seeds…but maybe they’re early risers, too.

The butterflies have been very scarce, too, unfortunately.

A Glimmer in the Mist — *Anna’s Hummingbird, male*

I spent about half an hour one morning sitting under our mesquite tree and this guy pretty much hung out with me the whole time, just sitting in the shadows. And a few more yardbirds: