Favorite Wildlife Photos of 2018 - XIII

Continuing with my favorite wildlife photos of last year (2018) we come to a Great Blue Heron that I watched fishing for several minutes:

Great Blue Heron at Lake Cochise

Goldfish Thief

We have a gold fish pond/fountain in our oasis. It has had two residents over the past 16 years. The first was Wyatt who died after 8 years. We immediately put two new goldfish in the pond. After a couple of years one (Virgil) "disappeared -- without a trace." We never knew what happened to him.

Yesterday, our remaining goldfish (Morgan) who we've had for over 8 years, was taken from us.

One of our guests was sitting outside when this happened. He had his camera with him at the time. Here is what he saw:

On the far wall

On the near wall

On the patio deck near the hummingbird feeder

Above the fountain

Checking everything out above the fountain

Eyeing it's prey from above the fountain

And then in a flash, speared Morgan, and took off.

Photos by our guest Gene.

P.S. Thanks to Gene for sharing and solving the mystery for us.

Gotta go now and get some new goldfish.

Lakeside Park: Great Blue Heron

Continuing with Lakeside Park, photos of a Great Blue Heron:

Lake Cochise

I drove over to Lake Cochise in Willcox looking for the Northern Waterthrush (one of the few Arizona Warblers I've not photographed).

No luck with the warbler, but as usual did come away with some nice photos:

Black Necked Stilt, American Avocet, and Western Sandpiper

Belted Kingfisher

Belted Kingfisher

Black Crowned Night Heron, Juvenile

Black Necked Stilt

Great Blue Heron

Great Blue Heron

Wilson's Phalarope

Yellow Headed Blackbird

White Fronted Goose and Snow Goose

I had an 8:30 breakfast this morning, but decided I could make a quick trip to Lakeside Park (about 20 minutes from us) at 6:00 am and be back in time to fix breakfast. 

I was rewarded with both a White Fronted Goose and a Snow Goose. (There was a Great Blue Heron and Black Crowned Night Heron as well, though I focused primarily on the geese.

Here they are in order of appearance:

Great Blue Heron

Black Crowned Night Heron

I didn't see the geese immediately, and then voila, they flew right down in front of me:

Snow Goose

Snow Goose

Snow Goose

White Fronted Goose

Boyce Thompson Arboretum

Christine and I headed up to Flagstaff over the past weekend to see our grandson in the musical "Chicago." On the way we stopped at Boyce Thompson Arboretum. We hadn't been since 2011 and so had forgotten just how amazing and beautiful it is.

While I had my camera, I spent more time just contemplating its beauty rather than looking for birds to photograph.

I did come away with some photos, but they don't do justice to this wonderful place.

Turkey Vulture

Wilson's Warbler

Great Blue Heron and Turkey Vulture

Lesser Goldfinch

Harris Antelope Ground Squirrel

Canyon Lizard

Pipevine Swallowtail

Queen Butterfly

Cactus Flower

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

More from El Rio Open Space - II

Here some of the other birds at El Rio Open Space:

Cassin's Kingbird

Great Blue Heron

Lucy's Warbler

Juvenile Red Tailed Hawk

Pena Blanca Lake Wildlife: Waterbirds

There is a fairly wide variety of both songbirds and water birds at the lake. At various times of the year you will find a variety of ducks, coots, mergansers etc. But there are also wadding birds including Great Blue and Green Herons:

Great Blue Heron

Green Heron

Santa Cruz Flats: Other Birding Finds

In addition to the raptors, there were other nice photos ops including a Black Bellied Plover. It is one of the most reliable places to find the Eurasian Collard Dove (if that's something you are interested in). Here are a few photos from my trip last week:

Black Bellied Plover

Burrowing Owl

Eurasian Collard Dove

Great Blue Heron

Killdeer

Lark Bunting

Common Raven

Rock Wren