This has been a very interesting "birding" season. For instance, the southernmost mountains (Santa Rita's, Huachuca's, and Chiricahua's) have had a surprisingly low number of hummingbirds this year. Madera Canyon, Patagonia, Ramsey Canyon, Miller Canyon, Ash Canyon, and Portal feeders have had far fewer hummingbirds. Miller Canyon, although it was the most devastated of all the mountain areas by last year's fire and flooding -- and is still flooding this year as a result -- still has the highest population of hummingbirds. In addition to the usual suspects, Rufous, Blue Throat, and White Eared have frequented the Miller Canyon feeders.
On the other hand, the ground birds of the Sonoran Desert -- where we live -- have had an usual abundance of newborn chicks. I would guess the population of Gambel's Quail right now on our property is at least 250 or more. And, at least 150 Mourning and White Winged Doves. There is a light in our carport that is a favorite nesting place for the doves. They start nesting there in March and are still nesting there today. As one Dove finishes, another takes over. What's fun is that the chicks, for the first few days out of their nest, sit on my tool cabinet or the wall next to the carport. To get from the office to the main house takes you right past them. You could literally pick them up in your hand they are that close.
Yesterday, two were sitting side by side on top of the tool cabinet just asking for a photo. So, I took a photo but didn't look at it until today. Unfortunately, I had the wrong setting for the photo which put one in focus and one out of focus. Normally, as I photograph birds, I use a single point center focus because birds are small and usually in trees and that's the only way to get the bird in focus. In this case, I was too close and the closer you are to a subject the shorter the depth of focus will be. (Obviously, I should have corrected this with a different setting). However, it gave me an idea for a blog series. PAIRS! So, starting today, Pairs of Pairs -- or, otherwise known as Two Pair:
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| The Pair of Mourning Dove Chicks sitting on my tool cabinet. |
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| A Pair of Wild Turkeys in Madera Canyon |
Great shots! The hummers are a challenge this year. It hasn't been easy but they are only now starting to pick up. Ash Canyon was a fiesta this past weekend. Wow! Too many birds and two hands on one camera.....pretty tricky to find a place to focus:)
ReplyDeleteThanks for the tip. I was at Ash Canyon three weeks ago and saw maybe 5 hummingbirds in an hour's time. Was the Lucifer around?
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