What is your favorite bird? And every fowl encounter you've had under the sun

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A trip down to world famous Madera Canyon the next Monday kicked up 2020 year bird #156 Western Tanager, #157 Plumbeous Vireo, #158 Dusky-capped Flycatcher, #159 Summer Tanager, #160 Brown-crested Flycatcher

2020 year bird #157 Western Tanager

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2020 year bird #160 Brown-crested Flycatcher

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Here’s the very similar Ash-throated Flycatcher on the same hike. See the difference?

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Last Sunday’s bird walk with my wife at mid-level Ponderosa Pine type habitat I managed to pick up year bird #161 Greater Pewee, #162 Hepatic Tanager, #163 Hermit Warbler, #164 Virginia’s Warbler and #165 Cassin’s Vireo. I didn’t manage to obtain any photos.

And with that, I am all caught up! 😀
 
It was always such a treat to see Western Tanagers in our yard. Haven’t seen them in recent years. When we were traveling through Iowa, I saw a male Summer Tanager fly in front of our truck window, from one shrubby area across the road to shrubs on the other side.
 
I loved the duck! Was the green herron an adult-it’s legs looked pretty short, compared to some of the herron I see in the Pacific Northwest.
 
JanR said:
It was always such a treat to see Western Tanagers in our yard. Haven’t seen them in recent years.
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I thought about you when I saw mine. It was actually the first bird I saw out of the car. Pleasant surprise. I’m seeing tanagers and grosbeaks showing up in your part of the country on the FB birding groups I’m part of.
jeannetherese said:
I loved the duck!
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Thanks. That was one of those moments when you look through the view finder and you say to yourself, “My goodness, that’s beautiful!”
jeannetherese said:
Was the green herron an adult-it’s legs looked pretty short, compared to some of the herron I see in the Pacific Northwest.
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It was an adult. You can tell by it’s red legs. Juveniles have yellow legs. I just figured that out on this trip. Here’s a shot of a juvenile from the same day.

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You’re probably seeing Great Blue Herons in the NW. Green Herons are much smaller and a little skulkier, so they’e not as obvious even though they’re pretty common.
 
Some beautiful birds and wonderful photography - thank you! I truly enjoy looking at all your photos. You’ve a keen eye when taking these photos.
 
Our peregrine falcon pair has four chicks – four hungry mouths to feed!

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Y’all, thinking about it, I think my favourite bird is the painted bunting. The fact that I can see such a beautiful bird in my own yard is amazing.
 
adamhovey1988 said:
Y’all, thinking about it, I think my favourite bird is the painted bunting.
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Here’s the best photo I ever got of a Painted Bunting. My aunt’s place in Texas is a breeding factory for them.

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Looks like a male. The females aren’t as rainbow, but still very pretty.
 
This morning I saw these street ducks up to no good, loitering around the gutter.
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A cop should give them a ticket – especially those two which aren’t social distancing, so close to the curb.
 
Apples and quinces in the garden are abundant this year,plenty to go around so I don’t mind the birds eating some 🙂
There are the Sulpher Crested cockatoos,wattle birds,silver eyes,sparrows,blackbirds and Crimson rosella …and the stray currawong sharing them.
Magpies are being territorial dive bombing the hens who run under cover.

 
Just a tad behind again. 2020 year bird #166 was a pair of Black-chinned Hummingbirds that came to my backyard. I didn’t get any good photos though.

A hike with my wife at the top of one of our ‘sky islands’ produced a few of our typical high-altitude summer breeders including #167 Cordilleran Flycatcher, # 168 Black Headed Grosbeak, #169 Red-faced Warbler and #170 was a Red-breasted Nuthatch, which said, “ANK ANK ANK!”

The canyon was wonderfully cool and shady and full of bird song. Photography was a bit of a challenge.

2020 year bird #168 Black-headed Grosbeak

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2020 year bird #170 Red-breasted Nuthatch in an uncharacteristic pose. Usually I see these creeping upside-down along tree trunks.

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Moving along. One advantage of being out of work is that I can now chase rarities, so when the report of a rare sea bird at a local park came in, I was able to throw my gear in my car and go after it. After a short wait, Pima county lifer #310, Arizona lifer #355 and 2020 year bird #171, Arctic Tern, passed by on it’s 12,000 mile migration from it’s wintering grounds in Antarctica to it’s breeding grounds in the Arctic tundra. It was so strange seeing this elegant bird, obviously built for a different environment, easily handling the strong winds against a perfectly blue Arizona sky. It really sets the mind to wonder.

2020 year bird #171 Arctic Tern

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A real treat to see the Arctic Tern. Deeply forked tail and black cap. Great pics!
 
One year, and one year only, we had an irruption of Black-Headed Grosbeaks, frequenting my feeders. Haven’t seen them since. This year, the Evening Grosbeaks are back.
 
The wife and I stopped by one of our desert lakes on the way to one of our distant ‘sky islands’ to cool off and breathe in the scent of the sweet pines two weekends ago. Scored a handful of new birds for the year including #172 American Avocet, #173 Glossy Ibis, #174 Blue-winged Teal, #175 Long-billed Curlew, #176 Black-crowned Night-heron and #177 Burrowing Owl.

I didn’t get any birding done on top of the mountain, I took a nap instead.

2020 year bird #172 American Avocet, a favorite bird from when I was a tad, but I say that about a lot of birds.

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2020 year bird #173. This my AZ life bird #355. It’s super rare and hard to tell from White-faced Ibises, but the blue face, gray legs and thin white lines around the face separate it from this species.

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2020 year bird #175 Long-billed Curlew, a favorite bird from when I was a tad.

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2020 year bird #176 Black-crowned Night-heon. I was aware they did this. I’d never seen it before. Kinda weird.

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and 2020 year bird #177 Burrowing Owl. Nice fnd. I got out of the car to check out some shorebirds and discovered this thing staring at me.

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Bonus pic, Black-necked Stilt. A little better shot than the first go around.

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Very striking bird the American Avocet. I love the perfectly glass-smooth mirror image of the bird in the 4th photo - simply beautiful. Think it’d make a great photo to hang on my wall.
 
My favorite bird is a female peacock.

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I like the Curlew 🙂 I couldn’t see them ,but recognised the call on one trip to the US.The last time I heard a similar call until then was in Ireland 20 years previously .
 
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