Winn Falls was still flowing with melting snow pack
New Friends
Old Friends
Cave Creek Canyon in Portal
This trail head accessed through Cave Creek Ranch is a new place to explore...
This trail head accessed through Cave Creek Ranch is a new place to explore...
Male Acorn Woodpecker working on a nesting spot
Male Acorn Woodpecker with brown secondaries and upper tail coverts- this is a trait seen in a small population here in Cave Creek.
This male Acorn Woodpecker has the more traditional black secondaries and upper tail coverts
Female Arizona Woodpecker
Male Arizona Woodpecker
Female Ladder-backed Woodpecker
Bewick's Wren
This Canyon Wren was hanging around the creek near the Sunny Flats Campground
This Black Phoebe was flycatching over South Fork
Bridled Titmouse calling... they are often times found with a mixed flock of foraging birds
This is a southwestern subspecies of the Brown Creeper- this subspecies has more black than brown coloring
The Cliff Chipmunk can make a call similar to a Northern Pygmy Owl
This is either a first winter or winter adult Chipping Sparrow. At first we thought this might be an immature White-crowned Sparrow but were corrected by someone via our Flickr photo site.
Another view of the winter Chipping Sparrow. Many of the Chipping Sparrows we are seeing are in breeding plumage so this plumage really fooled us.
We saw FOUR subspecies of Dark-eyed Juncos at the Cave Creek Ranch!
This is the gray-headed subspecies
Showing us its gray head
Male Oregon Dark-eyed Junco- you can tell it is the male because of the black head- the female has a gray head
Pink-sided subspecies
Red-backed Dark-eyed Junco
Showing us its beautiful red back
We had wonderful views of this red subspecies of the Fox Sparrow at Cave Creek Ranch. This red subspecies is considered rare for this area.
Hoary Comma butterflies seen on South Fork- my butterfly app indicates it has a vast range but appears rarely and in small numbers.
Hutton's Vireo
We think this is a female Hooded Oriole seen at Cave Creek Ranch. The female Scott's Oriole is duller below and the Hooded female has more of a down-curved bill than the Scott's.
Male Scott's Oriole singing from the tree tops in the town of Portal:-)
This Lincoln's Sparrow was hanging out at Cave Creek Ranch with the rest of the crew.
You can tell this is an immature Mexican Jay due to the pale base of the bill
This Red-tailed Hawk was flying low through the woods along South Fork.
This male Spotted Towhee was digging in the leaf litter looking for goodies
The clicking of my camera got his attention
This White-nosed Coati scrambled up a tree as we walked down South Fork trail. We understand that the males travel solo so this maybe a male since it was traveling alone. Apparently the females travel in large groups.
This male Yellow-rumped Audubon's Warbler was checking out the feeders at the popular Cave Creek Ranch
This White-breasted Nuthatch was "hanging" around
The Willow Tank is critical habitat located near Portal in the San Simon Valley. Since it is some of the only water in the area it is a bird and wildlife magnet.
We were fortunate to see this American Pipit feeding along the water's edge
Gambel's Quail
Scaled Quail
Great-tailed Grackle
Male Northern Cardinal
Male Pyrrhuloxia
Prairie Falcon
Female Red-winged Blackbird
First year male Red-winged Blackbird
We had two different subspecies of Savannah Sparrow at Willow Tank
The Rostratus subspecies of the Savannah Sparrow has a larger bill and less yellow on the head than other subspecies
The Savannah subspecies of the Savannah Sparrow has a darker eyeline and more extensive streaking
Female Lark Bunting
Male Lark Bunting starting to molt
Male Lark Bunting even further along in the transition to their beautiful black with white wing patches
Red-tailed Hawk and Common Raven having territory issues?
Red-tailed Hawk with a snack
Red-tailed Hawk enjoying the new blind at Willow Tank
The southwestern Song Sparrow
Vesper Sparrow
Adult White-crowned Sparrow
Immature White-crowned Sparrows
Immature White-crowned Sparrow
Road to Paradise near Portal area
We think this might be an immature Northern Goshawk or Cooper's Hawk...it looks so "beefy" for a Cooper's Hawk...any ideas?? There is an apache subspecies of Northern Goshawk....maybe that is this subspecies
Abert's Towhee at local feeders
Male Rufous Hummingbird
Finally we got fabulous looks at male Black-chinned Sparrows...
Male Cassin's Finch
Female Cassin's Finch
Male House Finch
Male House Finch of a different color
Female House Finch
Chihuahuan Raven
Golden Eagle
Sage Thrasher
Verdin in the air
Southeast Arizona's Whitewater Draw Wildlife Area is one of the best places to see large numbers of Sandhill Cranes, with population estimates of over 30,000 in winter time. The Draw is in the Sulphur Springs Valley, which is part of the Chihuahuan desert grassland habitat that is surrounded by the mountainous sky islands.
This Northern Harrier had just trapped a meal as we were arriving into the Draw
American Avocet
Female & male Cinnamon Teal
Male Green-winged Teal
Male Northern Shoveler
Male Northern Shoveler coming into breeding plumage
Female Northern Shoveler
We saw this Cooper's Hawk make a meal of a bird, we think was a Black Phoebe
We identified this bird as an Eastern Meadowlark because we heard it call...it can look so similar to the Western Meadowlark that it makes it impossible to tell the difference unless you hear them sing because their call and song are very different
The stars of the show....started coming back into the Draw from their morning feed around 11 am...it is very special sight to behold
On our way to Tucson we had a wonderful surprise at Granite Gap...5 male Bighorn Sheep. They have been reintroduced into the area and seem to be doing well:-)
The World is Full of Beauty & Wonder,
Turtle & Hawk
