Las Cienegas National Conservation Area - Part VI

The "visitor's center" where the old ranch house was is also located along Empire Gulch, but a quarter mile up from the spring. Lots of very old, very big cottonwood trees as well as mesquites create a haven for song birds. Here are a few photos from last week:

Willow Flycatcher

Black Throated Sparrow

Hutton's Vireo

White Crowned Sparrow

Common Yellowthroat

Pacific Slope Flycatcher

Madera Canyon

It was a good day hiking, birding, and photographing in Madera Canyon. Finding birds and photographing birds are two different activities. We saw several Canyon Wrens, Dark Eyed Juncos, Bridled Titmouse, Acorn Woodpecker -- oh, and of course Mexican Jays. Those attempts to photograph weren't successful. 

However, the Great Find was a Red Breasted Sapsucker -- which I was able to photograph. The RBS is rare to Arizona. It lives primarily on the Pacific Coast from Alaska to Southern California. But this beautify male seemed to want to be photographed as evidence that he made the trip to Arizona. Also photographed was a nice Hutton's Vireo:

Red Breasted Sapsucker

Hutton's Vireo