Happy Monday! Looks like a great week – click the schedule to embiggen!
Albatrossity
Ash Canyon Bird Sanctuary was formerly a B&B, operated by a woman named Mary Jo Ballator, that catered to the birding community. I had the pleasure of meeting Mary Jo (and her African Grey Parrot, Cookie) on a previous trip in 2018, but she passed away in 2019 and the future of the property was unclear. It is a world-class birding spot, nestled between the Huachuca Mountains and the high desert, but it was not clear that it would remain open to the public after her death. Fortunately, a major donation to the Southeastern Arizona Bird Observatory allowed that organization to purchase the property and continue to make it available to the birding community.
On my second full day in SE Arizona, I wanted to go back to Ash Canyon for the morning, since it dawned clear and bright and I had spent a lot of time there in the rain on the previous day. So here are some pics from that morning, along with a rainbow at days end.
The backyard of the former B&B has some hummingbird feeders, but also seed feeders in a nice wooded habitat. One of the seed-seekers was this spiffy male Lesser Goldfinch (Spinus psaltria). A much less abundant and less-studied congeneric of the familiar American Goldfinch (the state bird of New Jersey, Iowa and Washington), this species has been expanding its range northward and eastward in recent decades. So maybe one will be in your neighborhood at some time in the future! Click here for larger image.
On The Road – Albatrossity – Ash Canyon, Day 2Post + Comments (18)