Wildlife of The Azure Gate Bed and Breakfast - Part XV

Continuing our series on Wildlife of The Azure Gate Bed and Breakfast, the last of the Birds photographed since the beginning of the Pandemic.

Turkey Vulture

Verdin

Verper Sparrow

White-winged Dove

Chickadee, Bushtit, Titmouse, Verdin

Continuing with Chapters from my new book, Birds of the Western United States, we come to Chickadee, Bushtit, Titmouse, and Verdin:

Bridled Titmouse

Bushtit

Mountain Chickadee

Verdin

Verdin

Verdin

Other photos from Sweetwater Wetlands

In addition to the raccoons, I got some bird photos:

Common Gallinule

Common Yellowthroat Male

Ladder-backed Woodpecker

Red Winged Blackbird

Tropical Kingbird

Verdin at Nest

Yellow Warbler

Springtime at The Azure Gate Bed and Breakfast - Part I Nesting

Verdins are nesting. They like palo verde trees because they hold the nests in place and offer additional protection because of their long thorns.

Here is a male Verdin bringing food to the nesting chicks.

Verdin

Favorite Wildlife Photos from 2018 - XXVII

Next up on my series of favorite Wildlife Photos of 2018 is a beautiful little Verdin photographed here at The Azure Gate Bed and Breakfast.

Verdin

Birding Mount Lemmon - Part IV

More recent photos from Mount Lemmon:

Singing House Wren

Northern Mockingbird

Red Faced Warbler

Verdin

Wild Turkey

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

Birds of Sweetwater Wetlands - Part II

Continuing with typical birds of Sweetwater Wetlands:

Lesser Goldfinch

Red Eared Slider (I know it's not a bird, but I like this tiny one)

Red Winged Blackbird Female

Roadrunner

Tropical Kingbird

Verdin

Birding The Azure Gate

We are fortunate to have quite a lot of birds around. In terms of number of species, it's 75 -- certainly not as many as might be found where there is more water -- Sweetwater Wetlands, Santa Cruz and San Pedro Rivers, and the various mountain canyons.

But in terms of sheer numbers, you'll see as many birds here as in just about any place -- certainly the desert birds.

We have had our share of oddities -- Wild Turkeys, Band Tailed Pigeon, and Western Wood Pewee, Inca Dove, Scott's Oriole, Gilded Flicker, Rivoli's and Black Chinned Hummingbirds -- birds more associated with the surrounding mountains.

It's been difficult for me to get out to some of the birding sites the last couple of weeks. So I try to walk around our property every day. Yesterday I got the following photos that I particularly like:

Cooper's Hawk Adult

Verdin

Cactus Wren

Gila Woodpecker

Birding Madera Canyon

Christine and I birded the area between Proctor and Whitehouse in Madera Canyon hoping to find those little Black Capped Gnatcatcher -- and maybe the Elegant Trogon that had been reported.

No luck on either, but did find some birds to photograph.

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