Here's a beautiful red bellied woodpecker. We can hardly wait to see this spring's baby woodpeckers. We've ordered their favorite insect suet.
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Lake Nelson's first goslings of the year have hatched
We located a few Canada goose nests while out on our boat earlier in the month. We stopped by yesterday and saw that four baby geese had hatched.
Pied-billed Grebe
We visited Helmetta Pond in Helmetta, NJ this morning. There were not many birds there but one Pied-billed Grebe was present.
Bridled Titmouse
We get the tufted titmouse frequently in our yard in New Jersey, but we had to go to Madera Canyon in Arizona to see the bridled titmouse.
Pygmy Nuthatch
We get the white-breasted nuthatch frequently in our yard, but we had to go to Mount Lemmon in Tucson, Arizona to see a pygmy nuthatch.
Our last batch of Arizona Birds
Lesser Goldfinches (and Pine Siskins): Madera Canyon. We saw many bird in Arizona that were more colorful than the common New Jersey Birds. However, the American goldfinch, the state bird of NJ, is more spectacular than the lesser goldfinches.
Ladder-backed woodpecker: Not our best shot ever, but we've never seen one before
Common Yellowthroat: Sweetwater Commons
Cooper's Hawk outside our hotel room
And we couldn't resist taking a photo of the Abert's Squirrel aka Tassel-eared Squirrel.
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Tanagers from Madera Canyon, Arizona
Flame-colored Tanager
The internet can be very helpful when birding. From New Jersey we read about the flame-colored tanager in the Southeast Arizona Rare Bird Alert: "The male FLAME-COLORED TANAGER continued in Madera Canyon through 4/14 at and near Madera Kubo"
We just had to see it. Armed with directions from Greg, we left early Sunday morning. We heard it for quite some time before it came down from the top of the trees to a jelly feeder.
Later, a different tanager, the Hepatic Tanager, was at the same feeder. Pretty neat since we didn't know that there were Hepatic Tanagers.
Hepatic Tananger
Labels:
Arizona,
Flame-colored Tanager,
Hepatic Tananger
Black-headed Grosbeak
Vermilion Flycatcher
Baby Great Horned Owl
One of the advantages of birding with Greg and Mary from Tucson is that they knew where the baby owl was. This photo was taken at Agua Caliente Park.
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Trip to Arizona - Woodpeckers
Arizona Woodpecker
Gila Woodpecker
Acorn Woodpecker
We often look at other bird photographers' posts and see a lot of great pictures coming out of Arizona, so we started thinking we'd go check it out for ourselves some day. Coincidentally, Mike recently reconnected with a friend and colleague, Greg, who lives in Tucson, Arizona, and learned that he and his wife Mary were avid birdwatchers. Greg and Mary are some of the nicest people we know, so with the thought of great birding in good company, there was no stopping us from quickly planning a trip. What a successful trip! Greg and Mary took us to several top birding spots, and we also ventured out on our own with good results. During our long weekend there, we covered a lot of territory, which included: Agua Caliente Park, Mount Lemmon, Sabino Canyon and Madera Canyon in the Coronado National Forest, and Sweetwater Wetlands. None of us could believe the good luck we were having and it made for great laughs. Greg and/or Mary would say "this is where we usually see" and name a bird, and within a few minutes Chris or Mike would be seeing exactly what they named. Fantastic birdwatching hosts and cooperative birds made for great fun! We saw more than we hoped for, and it's hard to pick a favorite from all these incredible birds. There were a few we hoped to see but missed, so we may have Tucson, Arizona, on our itinerary another time.
Here are a few pictures of some woodpeckers we saw. These were all new to Mike but Chris had seen the acorn woodpecker before in Ojai, California. We'll post more than woodpeckers in the next few days including the flame-colored tanager.
Labels:
Acorn Woodpecker,
Arizona,
Arizona Woodpecker,
Gila Woodpecker
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Chickadee at the peanut feeder
We bought a peanut feeder in hopes of attracting some different birds. This chickadee seems to like it, but we are hopeful that he'll be joined by some migrating spring birds.
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Garret Mountain Birds
Inspired by Tom Walsh's and Dan Murray's posts to the New Jersey Birding list, we decided to go to Garret Mountain in West Paterson, NJ, in hopes of seeing the Hooded Warbler. We're glad we did because this is an adorable little bird.
We also saw a Ruby-Crowned Kinglet, an Eastern Towhee, and a Phoebe
Ruby-Crowned Kinglet
Eastern Towhee
Phoebe
The first thing we saw was a chipmunk with its mouth full.
Chipmunk
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Northern Flicker
While out on a walk, we encountered this Northern Flicker. It's nice to see some of the summer resident birds returning.
Friday, April 9, 2010
Stubby the Squirrel
There is a squirrel with a very short tail that has been visiting our yard. We call him "Stubby." Actually, there are two such squirrels. We're not sure what happened to them, but they still run and climb very fast, perhaps faster than the squirrels weighted down by bushy tails.
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