Favorite Wildlife Photos of 2018 - XIV

Today, a Green Heron:

Green Heron at Sweetwater Wetlands

El Rio Open Space - Part II

Although I was focusing on the Reddish Egret, I did take a few other photos:

Great Egret

Great Egret

Green Heron

Green Heron

Vermillion Flycatcher Female

Four Heron Day

Lake Cochise in Willcox, Arizona provides respite for waterbirds in search of --- well, water.

In the last post I shared photos of the Little Blue Heron that was at Lake Cochise. But I also found three other herons: the Great Blue, Green, and Black Crowned Night Heron. 

Here then are some of those photos:

Two of Eight Black Crowned Night Herons at Lake Cochise 

An adult BCNH in flight

I just missed getting these four adults and one juvenile standing on the rock.

I've not often seen a heron actually swimming but here is the evidence.

Great Blue Heron

Green Heron atop a willow tree

Dawn at Sweetwater Wetlands - Part IV

More from Sweetwater Wetlands this week:

Red Winged Blackbird

Red Winged Blackbird

Green Heron

Green Heron

Verdin

Common Yellowthroat

Sweetwater Wetlands Revisited

Sweetwater Wetlands is know for its wetlands and it certainly gets a nice mixture of waterbirds year round. But surrounding the water are cottonwoods, willows, and mesquite trees with provide a haven for other birds. 

Today a few of the waterbird photos I particularly like and next post will be the others:

These waterbirds aren't rare to Arizona or to Sweetwater. However, I liked the composition and colors in these particular photos:

Cinnamon Teal

Green Heron

Mallard Duck

Sw

Birding Sweetwater Wetlands - Part VI

Raptors are often present at Sweetwater Wetlands, including Peregrine Falcon, Harris Hawk, Red Tailed Hawk, and the Occasional Swainson's Hawk. The most prevalent though are the Cooper's Hawks that nest there. Here we have a juvenile Cooper's Hawk, followed by an Adult Sharp Shinned Hawk in the same cottonwood tree.

Juvenile Cooper's Hawk near nest

Sharp Shinned Hawk that seemed to be harassing the Cooper's Hawk

 Often present, and sometimes seen are Green Herons (though neither are great photos). Here are a couple of them:

Green Heron

Green Heron

 Still hanging around for the winter are the White Crowned Sparrows. First a juvenile (1st winter) and then an adult:

1st Winter White Crowned Sparrow

Adult White Crowned Sparrow

My Favorite Wildlife Photos of 2017 - 10

For the remainder of the year I thought I'd share my favorite wildlife photos taken in 2017.

So here they are (in alphabetical order):

Green Heron

Green Herons are fairly elusive. I came across this one in a very small open channel between the reeds. I like the composition, the colors, and the reflection. 

Sweetwater Wetlands: other birds

NOTE: I would like to welcome visitors from Iran, the 136th country to visit our Blog. Just today there have been visitors from:   United States, Canada, Netherlands, Iran, Japan, Brazil, France, Thailand, Ukraine, Ireland, South Korea, and Romania. Regardless of politics or religion, we all seem to have a common interest in Wildlife. Thank you.

Continuing my birding at Sweetwater Wetlands:

Though I was really concentrating on those rare warblers, there were lots of other birds interested in getting a photo:

Cardinal

Cooper's Hawk

Gilded Flicker

Green Heron

Red Naped Sapsucker

Ruby Crowned Kinglet

Verdin building her nest

Whitewater Draw in Early Morning

Getting an early start at Whitewater Draw can sometimes pick up birds that haven't left for the day yet. Such was the case last week. I arrived at dawn and found 20 or so Yellow Headed Blackbirds which were gone within an hour. I also found several Soras that were feeding in more open areas. An hour later they were back in the weed beds and no longer seen. And there were three Black Bellied Whistling Ducks that left within 15 minutes of my arrival.

Here then some photos from Whitewater Draw:

Anna's Hummingbird

Very poor photo of the three Black Bellied Whistling Ducks

Black Crowned Night Heron

Blue Grosbeak

Cassin's Kingbird

Green Heron

Green Heron

Killdeer

Pied Billed Grebe with little ones

Sora

Swainson's Hawk

Vermillion Flycatcher

Yellow Headed Blackbirds

Sweetwater Wetlands: Hawks Rule the Day

Cooper's and Sharped Shinned Hawks were abundant at Sweetwater Wetlands when I went the other day. Not uncommon I did find a very willing Green Heron to photograph but with so many bird eating hawks it was challenging to find many song birds. Here are a few photos though:

Adult Cooper's Hawk

Green Heron

Adult Sharp Shinned Hawk