Two little birds in Tucson...

I really need to get more of my photos posted from Tucson.  I spent a lot of time in Dorothy's backyard trying to get decent photos of two of the little birds.....the Verdin and the Ruby-Crowned Kinglet.  Both were very active in her trees while we were there, and both seem to move constantly.  The little Kinglet likes the suet but also the oak tree flowers.  The Verdin likes the oak tree flowers and also the flowers on the Tangerine vine that is growing through the Hackberry tree.

 When I first saw the Kinglet flitting around, I thought it was the Verdin because they are about the same size and move similar....always on the go.  My sister hadn't seen it in her yard before, so she was happy we got some photos of it.

 He wouldn't show us his red spot on the top of his head.....kept it hidden all the time.  In a couple of back shots, I can just barely see a tiny bit of red where it is located.  It is amazing to me that they can hide a bunch of feathers like that.

He really liked the suet cake so most of my photos are near it.

Fortunately the day we went to Sweetwater looking for birds, I happen to see a Kinglet there also and it did display its red spot!  My photo is a bit out of focus....he's fast.  I didn't even know what bird I was taking a photo of at the time....just a quick little bird flitting around in the tall grasses.

 My other little favorite is the Verdin.  Since I didn't have my favorite small birds from home to watch....the chickadee and the titmouse....I decided this little guy would take their place for the week.  

He constantly bounces from one branch to another or stops to scratch and twitch. 

 When the sun is bright, his little yellow face shows up nicely.  

 He liked the Tangerine Vine flowers

 I like this one because it shows the little red spot on his shoulder.

 Any flower was fair game :-)

 Well, you all know I like rodents as much as birds :-)  One of the little ground squirrels under the feeder.

There are always a few bunnies around in the grass.   

I thought this yellow wasp was interesting.

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I'll try to get more stuff posted soon.  We went to the Grand Canyon and up on Kitt Peak as well as a couple places where I took duck photos....Sweetwater and Aqua Caliente.

Tucson birds....

I just got back from 10 days in Tucson at my sister's house.  I love sitting out in her back yard watching the birds.  Each day I saw 10 or 11 different species.  I can't decide exactly how to post everything we did, but will start with some of the birds from her yard.  Looking out her front window you see a typical Tucson view .....a  view of the Catalina Foothills mountains and very little vegetation other then cacti and some small trees, and a few wildflowers.

I love getting up early and seeing the sun beginning to light up the mountains.

Her back yard is different.....several nice tall trees and a small grassy area surrounded by a low wall.

All the birds like to come land at the top of the trees.  Here are a few of the birds that visited each day.  

 One of the first birds I always see is the Phainopepla.  This is the male in his black feathers and red eyes.

The female Phainopepla is gray.  They are both very pretty birds with their lacy looking topknots.  They are about the size of Cardinals.

 I love seeing the Gila Woodpeckers.  There is a pair that lives in the Saguaro cactus that you can see in the mountain photo.  They flit back and forth from there to the trees in Dorothy's yard.  She puts out some suet and a little bird seed, but doesn't feed the birds very extensively.  Can't see the head but think this is the female.  The male has a small red spot on the top of its head.

 This was sort of strange behavior to watch.  The female woodpecker picked that spot to hang under the "v" of the branch and hung there for at least 15 minutes.  While she hung there the Phainopepla arrived and then one of the House Finches.  They all seemed very chummy!

Another day, the Gila Woodpecker pair came together to sit on the tree before visiting the suet.  If you don't look too closely the tree looks a bit like a heart surrounding them :-)

 The House Finches in Arizona vary from red to orange to yellow.  This little female was putting on a wing display for the male and he was totally ignoring her.

 " I did my best!".....men!

 I love the Lesser Goldfinches.....similar to the Goldfinches back home but with a dark head.

 The male

Doing a bit of singing.

 This is one of the dullest looking birds.....the Abert's Towhee.  Sort of like a faded female Cardinal.  Usually it is digging around on the ground, but I caught it one day up in the tree singing.  Sounds a great deal like a Cardinal's song, but a little rougher.

 Another treetop singing......the Pyrrholoxia.  It look's similar to a Cardinal female also.

 And of course the Hummingbirds.  This female buzzed around a bit, but I'm not sure what kind it is.

 I think this is the Costa's hummingbird male.

And this one is a Broadbilled Hummingbird male.

Lot's of Mourning doves.  I thought this pair looked very comfortable.  There was a female nesting right outside my bedroom window and she hatched her babies right before we left.  My sister is suppose to keep me informed on their progress.  I could just barely see it one morning as the mother fed it.  Little ball of fluff with a big bill.

My favorite little bird was this Verdin.  A cute little gray bird with a yellow face.  It loved the oak tree and was eating the flowers each day.  It flits around so much, I had trouble keeping up with the camera and it was often hidden in the leaves and flowers.  I will probably post some more photos of it.  There is one on my sidebar from a previous trip sitting in an Acadia tree.

Enough for this post.

Eagles at Mr. Vernon, IN and some of the home birds...

We drove out to Mt. Vernon, IN to Hovey Lake yesterday to see if the eagle's nest was occupied.  It is easy to see the nest at this time of year even though it is about a quarter of a mile across the lake from where we park.  Sorry about the quality of the photos, but at that distance my camera doesn't like to focus too well on auto-focus.  Don't know what I would do without a good zoom lens for these distances.

What a great surprise!  Both adult eagles were sitting in a tree near the nest!  At times like this I really wish I was a better photographer and knew more about how to use my camera, but I'm happy to get anything. 

 After a while  they both flew over to the nest.  I believe they should be starting a family soon, so we will have to go back in a few weeks and check on them again.  The lake around the nest is frozen right now.  I don't know if you can tell in the photo how huge the nest is.  I've got part of it cropped off the bottom.  It must be at least 6 feet deep.  They have been using this nest for a lot of years.

Later one of the eagles flew out to a tree in the middle of the frozen lake.  That brought it a bit closer for photos. 

In another tree on our side of the lake, we spotted this hawk all fluffed up on a branch. 

In the same area some Vultures had landed in the trees and were sunning themselves with wings spread.  There were at least 5 more in the nearby trees. 

One small area of the lake had a thawed spot and there were a group of what I think were swans sitting in the water....about 20-30.  I thought they were Snow Geese at first but then in the photos I could see the longer necks.  This lake is on the Indiana side of the Ohio River, but maybe 10 miles or more down river from the place we go on the Kentucky  side of the river to look at the Snow Geese, so we thought we might see some geese in this area as well.

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At home over the past week when we had snow, I took some photos of the birds at the feeders.

The Blue Jays love to come and get the peanuts I put out.  They stuff their bills with as many as they can get in before flying off. 

Filled to the very tip....guess it's time to fly! 

 The Downy sticks with the suet mostly.

A Mockingbird looking for a few seeds. 

 The female Red-bellied Woodpecker above and the male below.

Oops......an intruder!  Starlings can be so pushy, even the woodpeckers give way. 

One of my squirrels with his tail blowing in the wind. 

The Titmouse will dig a seed out of the bottom of this almost empty feeder even when there are easier seeds to grab on the tray feeder. 

 The Wren looks a bit grumpy.