On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
Albatrossity
I had a Monday free of any OTR responsibilities, and it seems like the stock market took the week off as well. Sheesh! Well, I’m rested and back to a regular schedule, even if the stock market is still in a funk.
As mentioned earlier, the Cave Creek Ranch had many bird feeders with lots of variety in the food selection (seed, sugar water, suet, mealworms, and even grape jelly). And lots of regular customers; this place has been feeding birds for a long time! But it also had a small pond, with several resident Chiricahua Leopard Frogs (Lithobates chiricahuensis) floating relaxedly and enjoying the early spring sunshine! This frog is listed as Threatened by the USFWS, so I was glad to see so many here. Click here for larger image.
One of the attractions at the ranch this spring was a Fox Sparrow (Passerella iliaca). Unlike the very rufous versions of this species that we see east of the Rockies, this was much more gray than it was rufous or “foxy”. It is the Slate-colored Fox Sparrow (P. i. schistacea), which is currently a subspecies but may (or may not) be classified as a full species in the future. At any rate, it was the goal for many of the birders I talked to. Click here for larger image.
Another attraction was this male Indigo Bunting (Passerina cyanea), a species that is common as dirt in my part of the continent, but relatively rare west of the Rockies. As you can see, he was still molting from the drab brown winter plumage to his spring indigo finery. Unlike the Fox Sparrow, however, he was not seen by most of the birders there, since he showed up only once or twice a day. Perhaps he was embarrassed about his molting plumage… Click here for larger image.
By far the most common bird at the ranch’s feeders (and everywhere else in the area as well), this adult White-crowned Sparrow (Zonotrichia leucophrys) is a fine example of the Gambel’s subspecies (Z. l. gambelii). By now it is probably in Canada or Alaska for the summer season. Click here for larger image.
For me, a visitor from the east, the other birds at the feeders were the main attraction. The diversity of habitats in this part of Arizona means that you can have montane species like the White-crowned Sparrow and desert species like this Cactus Wren (Campylorhynchus brunneicapillus) in view at the same time. And a Cactus Wren with green foliage in the background is a rare treat! Click here for larger image.
Another common species, and a real feeder-hog, White-winged Doves )Zenaida asiatica) were formerly restricted to the southwest, but now can be regularly found much further north and east, in places like Oklahoma and Kansas. The drivers for this population and range expansion remain mysterious, at least to me. Click here for larger image.
As one might expect, non-avian seed gluttons are also attracted to the abundant food provided for the birds. This Cliff Chipmunk (Neotamias dorsalis) certainly took full advantage of the plentiful supply of sunflower and other seeds. Click here for larger image.
Despite their reputation as a bird of the eastern US, Northern Cardinals (Cardinalis cardinalis) are found in parts of New Mexico and Arizona. That’s a good thing, otherwise the Arizona Cardinal football team would have had to change the name and the mascot when they moved to Phoenix from St. Louis. They avoided the ignominy of a mascot/geography mismatch like the one that the unfortunate Utah Jazz have dealt with for years… Click here for larger image.
I see Northern Cardinals every day of the year, and they are nice enough birds, but their relative, the Pyrrhuloxia (aka Desert Cardinal, Cardinalis sinuatus) is a much-sought-after species for birders visiting Arizona. This is a bird of the desert Southwest, and even in its range, it is not particularly common. But its parrot-like bill and wispy crest, along with the subtle shades of pink and gray of this male, make it uncommonly attractive, at least in my opinion. Click here for larger image.
The female Pyrrhuloxia is a desert-colored version of the female Northern Cardinal. This one seems sort of melancholy. Probably thinking about her 401(k). Click here for larger image.
eclare
Yeah, the bird in that last photo, I feel ya.
Don L
David, those pictures are among the best you’ve ever shown us. So many great photographs, but I esp like the Indigo Bunting. Looks like he’s been hard at work and needs a shower. Thanks for another start to a Monday I’ve been needing. Not.
Hildebrand
I loved when the Pyrrhuloxia would hang around our huisache tree in Deep South Texas. They were never there for long, but it was always nice to have them visit.
stinger
Or, “Why are boy birds prettier than girl birds? That’s just rong.” But you captured her carefully applied red eye shadow and lovely tail feathers beautifully, Albatrossity.
And the backlit Northern Cardinal looks like his hair’s on fire thinking about his own 401(k). Thanks for all these!
frosty
Great pictures as usual. I’ve been trying to see a Fox Sparrow for about two years now, here on the Mason-Dixon Line. Other birders see them regularly at the hotspots I go to, but not me. It’s the most common one around here that I haven’t seen.
Re: the White-Winged Dove – I saw one in Bradenton, FL in February. They’re definitely out of the southwest!
SteveinPHX
Welcome to AZ. Thank you for the wonderful photographs!
AM in NC
What a delight to wake up to – thank you! Hard not to anthropomorphize the Cardinals especially; what personality in these photos!
WaterGirl
The cliff chipmunk is cute, and I love the punk look on the cardinal. I don’t recall that on other cardinals I have seen. Have I just not been paying attention?
And the red paint seems to be running on the first cardinal, ala Rudy at the Four Seasons.
arrieve
I am determined that I will be in a better mood this week (the six year old that I tutor in reading asked me if I was mad at her, when I thought I was hiding my feelings pretty well) and these pictures are such a lovely boost. I see Northern cardinals all the time in New York and never get tired of them, but I have never seen a pyrrhuloxia. Lovely bird, great name.
MobiusKlein
Ah, much better than my recent birb pics. Tons of ravens/crows, great tailed grackle, an incorrectly exposed roadrunner, and some hawks from too far away.
Geminid
I’ve heard of “Black Swan” events, but a Black Flamingo event? A picture posted by Israeli reporter Noga Tarnopolsky has this caption:
I’ll try to link:
https://x.com/NTarnopolsky/status/191148632765834475
Shazaam! Link works.
Xavier
Our urban birds in Albuquerque, in rough order of population: white winged doves, eurasian collared doves, mourning doves, house sparrows and finches, roadrunners, curve billed thrashers (usually a pair in any thicket of chollas or prickly pears), cooper’s hawks (because of the doves). In summer, black chinned hummingbirds and robins.
I am not a confirmed birder, so any and all of these could be wrong.
Gloria DryGarden
Grateful for the frog!
incredible photos. A molting indigo bunting.. isn’t that the state bird in Colo? I have never seen a cardinal in real life.
Albatrossity
@Gloria DryGarden: Yeah, I was happy to see the frogs as well. I got a lifer amphibian that day!
The state bird of CO is the Lark Bunting; but it is not really a bunting, it is a sparrow. A friend of mine, who did his graduate work on this species, wrote the species account for the Birds of the World monograph series back in the 1990’s. In that monograph he noted that this was one of the more abundant species of grassland birds, But no more, it is now listed as one of the Common Birds in Steep Decline. Habitat loss, both in the breeding areas and wintering areas, is the most likely culprit
Gloria DryGarden
@Albatrossity: I’ve seen the lark buntings up in Pawnee grasslands, 6,7,8 years ago. Interesting mating flights. I might be recalling a pretty song, but not sure. Is indigo bunting the blue bird I saw up in north Yellowstone?
in any case, your bunting molting his feathers is quite amazing.
Albatrossity
@Gloria DryGarden: A blue bunting-like bird in Yellowstone would probably be a Lazuli Bunting. They are closely related to the Indigo Bunting of the eastern US, and are the common bunting of the western US.
Gloria DryGarden
@Albatrossity: yes! I remember now. I did learn the name, consult a bird book at the ranger station while I was there. It’s just been awhile. Thank you!
now I’m hankering to go up to the grasslands and camp, hangout, watch the birds, drive around. It’s been years, and my buddy no longer lives up there. But still..
i try to provide food for the birds in my yard, by leaving seed heads up all winter. The yard police sometimes insist I cut it all down. I get lots of small things perching in the sage brush, and on rose branches, sparrow, finch, junco, wren. Some red throated thing, perhaps it’s a finch. They’re delightful even if I only have a camera phone, and don’t know their names.