Skywatcher Sunset at Bosque del Apache NWR, 
We found the Great-horned Owl in its usual place in the rafters of the pavilion. He cracked one eye open to watch us, then went back to sleep. In the dried winter grasses outside I spot my first song sparrow of the year. Later I find more down by the water, scratching in the weeds. A lone Eastern Meadowlark walks along the fenceline. Gus calls me to come see the owl while i try to be sure which species of meadowlark I am seeing. we can have Eastern, Western and Lillian's, a very light version of the eastern. But this one is bright buttery yellow, not pale enough for that.
We head off to the wooded area by the wetlands where we find a barn owl deep in the trees. The owl roosting area is marked off with signs to keep out, so this is the best photo Gus could get from the boundary line. We searched the trees for Long-eared owls, but without success.
However, over at the marshland the snow geese shine like chemically whitened teeth in the bright morning sunlight. A search through these photos reveals a Ross' Goose as well. Can you see it in the left hand side of the photo? Its forehead is more rounded, and its beak is triangular with a bluish blush near the top. It lacks the prominent grin path of the snow geese.
Many birds hide in the dry reeds, and this white-crowned sparrow is no exception. We saw some with the starkly contrasting white and black crowns, as well as this buffy-striped headed variety.
In Rio Rico we stop at the Rio Rico pond alongside Rio Rico Drive. The pond is located in a fenced off pasture, but you can walk up tot he barbed wire and look at the birds. Last time I saw a black phoebe here, but today a little gray flycatcher is hunting form a thorny bush, dipping its tail in the sunlight. Out on the water the ducks immediately paddle to the far reaches of the pond where they are backlit by the sun. Not too great for photos but I could see and count ducks. And out amongst the mallards, shovelers and wigeons I spot a couple of pintails and some gadwalls. We are here less than 15 minutes and then we head up to Hawk Hill.
Before Gus has even parked the car a turkey vulture comes soaring over the ridge line. It is soon joined by another and another until I have counted four in all. If you wonder where the turkey vultures go in winter... well, here they are! I am taking the pictures now while Gus stands on the hillside and gazes out over the valley below.
We enjoy the view from the mountainside and listen to gentle breezes ruffle the grass. All the mesquite trees are little more than scraggly shrubs and with the winter have shed their tiny leaves so that they appear dead. Soon spring rains will come, and with them spring warmth, when once again this dry brown land will blush with green for a season.
Plumbeous Vireo 1-14-09 by Kathie BrownMy World is a world of birds and birding. In quest of Big January I have gone birding almost every day this month. Last Wednesday I decided to visit Sweetwater Wetlands where I hoped to pickup some new species of birds. Sweetwater is undergoing some maintenance right now, so the main parking lot and front ponds are closed, but the County has set up temporary parking down the street with an alternative access to the back ponds. Most people come to Sweetwater to see ducks and the resident family of Harris Hawks, but many smaller species live in the cattails, rushes and willows. When I arrived the heavy machinery was right near the road and I had to walk past it to access the trails. I wondered how there could be any bird here, but I was pleasantly surprised. The ponds are full of hundreds of Northern Shovlers as well as Wigeons, Mallards, Ruddy Ducks and Coots. Around the edges of the ponds today a display is set up with a group of school children learning about the wetlands and how they work. I walk the perimeter quietly and wait for the silence to come. Soon the school children leave and most of the early birders. I am almost alone here now and the birds emerge from their hiding places to feed in safety once again.
It is now that I find this Plumbeous Vireo flitting about in the branches of a willow. While photos of ducks are much easier to capture, finding and getting close to these smaller birds is the real challenge. Vireos are very active insect eating birds closely related to shrikes. Their thick bills are hooked at the ends and this Plumbeous Vireo has white "spectacles" and wing bars.
I was delighted to catch this small song bird in the act of feeding. I watched from below as it captured...
...and gobbled up an insect. It ripped the legs off to swallow first...
..then repositioned the bug...
...and gobbled it up!
Like any well mannered bird, it cleaned its beak on a limb...
...before continuing the hunt once again. You can see the white spectacles and double wingbars in this photo as well as the hooked beak.
And while I am watching the Plumbeous vireo, this little yellow-rumped warbler is watching me. Yellow-rumped warblers come in two varieties: Audubon's with the yellow throat, and the more eastern Myrtle with a white throat. Once considered separate species,the two were combined into one currently called Yellow-rumped for the bright yellow rump they both sport. Many birders call them "butter butts" which is an easy distinguishing field mark.
Most of the ducks are napping at this time of day with their beaks tucked into their downy feathers. A few float serenely on the pond, but they keep their distance. However, when this female Ruddy Duck came close, I couldn't resist snapping her photo. Ruddy ducks are small diving ducks and the males are quite colorful and clownish looking when they are in breeding plumage.
Here is what winter looks like in Arizona. It is 71 degrees today and I am in a T-shirt and Capri's. The warm sun beats down on me, and I am thankful for the shady paths in Sweetwater Wetlands.
I have seen the resident family of Harris Hawks hunting over my head since I arrived. One has finally landed close enough for me to get a shot with my Nikon D80 and 300mm lens. I zoom in as it looks over its red shoulder with the sun glinting in its dark eye.
But this one has had enough of me photographing it and takes off. This photo shows the best field marks with the dark body, red shoulders, white base to the tail and the white terminal band. You can also see the formidable talons used to capture prey. I saw 33 species of birds at Sweetwater and added 7 new species to my Big January Count. I thought I was done for the day, but then I decided to stop at Lakeside Park.
Lakeside Park is located off Golf Links Road on 8299 East Stella Road between Kolb and Sarnoff. It is a lovely small park with picnic areas, ball fields and a man made lake. While ducks, grackles and blackbirds frequent this body of water, I know it is also a reliable place to see Spotted Sandpipers.
And sure enough I find on in winter plumage on the far shore. I have to hike all the way around to get close enough for a picture, but it is well worth it. There are always fishermen here trying their luck in the well stocked pond. But as I walk the edge of the lake counting mallards and wigeons I round the curve of the shoreline to discover a fisherman I never expected to find here.
This large bird silhouetted on the rusting sign warning people not to swim is unmistakeably a Brown Pelican! But what is it doing here?
I finally sit myself down on the curbing and snap to my heart's content. The sight of this bird is a gift in more ways than one. I smile at its comical appearance and enjoy this special moment. I wonder if anyone else knows about this bird and when I am home once again I find it has already been reported on the Southeast Arizona Rare Bird Alert.
I am birding at breakneck speed and spend the weekend couting birds. Now, on Monday morning it was 59 degrees at 6:00 a.m. In the past 50 minutes it has dropped to 56, but as soon as the sun rises the temperature will soar rapidly and by this afternoon it will be in the mid 70's once again in My World. I am going back to Madera Canyon today to meet a fellow blogger named Kathy from Kentucky. Perhaps we will spot that Black-throated Green Warbler again today and one of us will capture its picture! Her blog is Life, Birding, Photos and Everything and she and her husband are out here for the Wings Over Wilcox Festival. She has a really beautiful blog and her photography is excellent. She also visited Sweetwater Wetlands recently as well as The Sonoran Desert Museum where she witnessed Raptor Free Flight. If you have the time, take a look.
I glance across the flat expanse of desert before me. I use to find so many birds in this vacant lot, but today only jackrabbits scuttle up from the brush as I hike across the dusty earth. A lone Say’s Phoebe bobs its tail from the top of some desert broom. It has a vast terrain to hunt in, but it looks like slim pickin’s to me! In the distance I see the crumbling walls of the Casa Grande Monument. I head in that direction, but take a meandering path.
But I am here now, here in this wild and discarded place. A neighborhood is growing to the west of it. The curbs and roadways are already in. To the East a new school has risen since the last time I was here. How do they build them so fast? And right here where old trees tower, and remnants of another day lie discarded and rotting the trees and bushes are full of evening birds.
I walk soft as I can on the dried grasses. Leaves and sticks crumble and crack beneath my feet. Mourning doves make heavy silhouettes as they roost on utility wires and on the tangled branches of the trees. I stop to admire the scraggly branches that loom above my head.
Why do I find the bare leaved trees so beautiful and sculptural? In this evening light their bark looks gilt with gold.
A silver silo rises up from the golden land, a monument to man’s discarded past.
Farther down through the vacant lot I wander with yellow-rumped warblers singing me along my path. They don’t seem to mind the garbage strewn about their domain, but I start to wonder if I am safe back here. I’m quite a ways off the road. Would anyone hear me if I needed help?
In the pale light that remains I gaze across the canal as if gazing across time to an ancient day when native peoples roamed this land and grew crops that they irrigated with water from the Gila River. The adobe walls of the Casa Grande Ruins are all that remains of those times and those days. I wonder what birds and wildlife lived here then? 
Sunset in a Vacant Lot 5:21 P.M. MST 1-10-09 
Perigean Moonrise @ 5:29 P.M. MST 1-10-09 
