Big Day Birding
We have been busy none stop, but I will just skip all the way to yesterday. We headed across town and up Oracle road to Catalina State Park. This is a great park. right in the foothills of the Catalina Mountains. Lots of trails to hike and bird. We drove to the end of the paved road and hiked 3 trails there. One trail was called "The Birding Trail". A one mike loop (after a 1/2 mile connector). You have to cross creeks about 3 times. Good hiking boots pay off here. People with sneakers were looking for fallen trees and rocks to get across.
The birding...in a word "GREAT". I was really proud of Gloria birding skills yesterday. We weren't 10 yards into the trail when we spotted a Lesser Goldfinch. While I was shooting (with a camera) the goldfinch I hear Gloria say "Oh My....a Cooper's Hawk". I looked where her binoculars were pointing and all that I saw were dense trees. Perched in there was a Cooper's Hawk. When I was processing the pictures I could see where he or she had recently been in water. He must have nailed some prey at the stream near by. Two pics of the hawk follow.
We had head about a Great Horned Owl on a nest in the park and we were looking for nest sites. High up inside a dense pine tree Gloria found a male Great Horned. We new that breeding pairs of Great Horned owls would have the male roosting 50 yards of so from the nest. No one had mentioned 2 owls but Gloria started looking for the female on a nest and within 2 minutes found it.
We were very close to the male, but the female in the nest was maybe maybe 30 yards off the trail. We didn't approach her, so as not to disturb her on the nest. A picture of each owl is below.
Next we have a Red-tailed Hawk fly in and perch on a saguaro cactus for a minute. We learned that red-tailed hawks in the west have tails that are a lighter red compared to the eastern hawks.... maybe the bright sun out here bleaches out the red, :-).
Then we we see birds we have never seen before. Luckily Tom did get pics so we could ID them later. Abert's Towhee, Dark-eyed Junco ( Oregon group) and one Dark-eyed Junco that might be a Pink-sided), Rufous-crowned Sparrow. Junco and Sparrow. pics are below. If any of you experienced birders think our ID's are incorrect please let us know.
We rounded out the day with Phainopepla, Pyrrhuloxia, Anna's Hummingbird, Vermillion Flycatcher, and a Gilded Flicker. Flicker pic included.
The birding...in a word "GREAT". I was really proud of Gloria birding skills yesterday. We weren't 10 yards into the trail when we spotted a Lesser Goldfinch. While I was shooting (with a camera) the goldfinch I hear Gloria say "Oh My....a Cooper's Hawk". I looked where her binoculars were pointing and all that I saw were dense trees. Perched in there was a Cooper's Hawk. When I was processing the pictures I could see where he or she had recently been in water. He must have nailed some prey at the stream near by. Two pics of the hawk follow.
We had head about a Great Horned Owl on a nest in the park and we were looking for nest sites. High up inside a dense pine tree Gloria found a male Great Horned. We new that breeding pairs of Great Horned owls would have the male roosting 50 yards of so from the nest. No one had mentioned 2 owls but Gloria started looking for the female on a nest and within 2 minutes found it.
We were very close to the male, but the female in the nest was maybe maybe 30 yards off the trail. We didn't approach her, so as not to disturb her on the nest. A picture of each owl is below.
Next we have a Red-tailed Hawk fly in and perch on a saguaro cactus for a minute. We learned that red-tailed hawks in the west have tails that are a lighter red compared to the eastern hawks.... maybe the bright sun out here bleaches out the red, :-).
Then we we see birds we have never seen before. Luckily Tom did get pics so we could ID them later. Abert's Towhee, Dark-eyed Junco ( Oregon group) and one Dark-eyed Junco that might be a Pink-sided), Rufous-crowned Sparrow. Junco and Sparrow. pics are below. If any of you experienced birders think our ID's are incorrect please let us know.
We rounded out the day with Phainopepla, Pyrrhuloxia, Anna's Hummingbird, Vermillion Flycatcher, and a Gilded Flicker. Flicker pic included.
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