David Lindo (London, England), The Urban Birder at the Sabino Canyon Visitor Center — Image by kenne
As a blogger, I follow a lot of bloggers, mostly those into music, poetry,
and nature photography. One of my favorite blogs is Michael Stevenson’s “The Hobbledehoy.”
Yesterday (08/09/20), Michael reblogged “A month in the life of The Urban Birder, David Lindo.
” Right away, I thought, “I know who David Lindo is.” Why do I know him?
In February of 2013, David presented to the Sabino Canyon Volunteer Naturalists (SCVN)
in Tucson, Arizona.
I videoed the presentation, which was about 45 minutes. The idea was to make
it available in the SCVN library or on our website.
Well, without going into the details, it didn’t happen.
So, after Michael posted the article from Country Living,
I decided to reduce the length of his presentation and put it on YouTube.
This happening here in Tucson took place long before the Karens of the world were making news in Central Park.
Yellow-eyed Junco (Coronado National Forest) — Image by kenne
Yellow-eyed Juncos shuffle through the leaf litter of pine and pine-oak forests with fire in their eyes— a bright yellow-orange gleam that instantly sets them apart from the more widespread Dark-eyed Junco. Otherwise, they share many of the markings of the “Red-backed” form of Dark-eyed Junco, including a gray head, two-toned bill, reddish-brown back, and white outer tail feathers that flash when they fly. This specialty of the southwestern U.S. also occurs in mountain forests through Mexico to Guatemala. — Source: allaboutbirds.org
Named for the 19th-century Italian duchess Anna Massena, the
Anna’s hummingbird is one of only three hummingbird species
that are permanent residents of the United States and Canada.
(The others are the Allen’s and Costa’s.) This hardy hummingbird
has the northernmost year-round range of any North American
hummingbird species.
Crested Caracaras are large birds with wingspans up to four feet. Males and females have the same plumage: a black-topped head, a bare, reddish-orange face, and a white neck. The back and wings are dark browns to black; the legs and talons are yellow. The underside of the wings has white tips. The underside of the blacktail has white at the rump. In-flight, caracaras could be mistaken for black vultures. (Arizona Daily Independent)
Recently, my friend and fellow Sabino CanyonVolunteer Naturalist Ned Harris shared some of his recent
images of crested caracaras. He is an amazing photographer!
Check out Ted’s Flickr account. https://www.flickr.com/photos/ned_harris/
Crested Caracara On A Saguaro — Image by Ned Harris
A Visitor On The Patio (Immature Cooper’s Hawk) — Images by kenne
This immature Cooper’s Hawk perched on one of our patio chairs not far from the bird feeder frequented by doves for about one minute this morning. A mature hawk would have been up in the olive tree near the feeder. Even then, that doesn’t work as well as swooping from over the rooftop. They will learn. These images were taken through the patio door, which given the time of day the doors become a mirror.
This time of year flocks of Cedar Waxwings descend on berry-laden trees and hedges in
Sabino Canyon. They are sociable at all seasons, and it is rare to see just one waxwing.
Occasionally a line of waxwings perched on a branch will pass a berry back and forth,
from bill to bill, until one of them swallows it.