Mike in the Wild

Bird-watching is a kind of timekeeping, a way to measure the changing seasons and advancing days.  Without the aid of a calendar, I know that it's mid-summer in northern Arizona when I spy a rufous hummingbird at the nectar feeder.  And if a wood duck appears within a flock of mallards on a desert canal it's certainly winter.  Likewise a Lincoln's sparrow in my Phoenix backyard heralds the start of spring. But this diminutive sparrow seems to pinpoint the time to a month if not a week.  Last March I noticed him for the first time pecking through my raised cactus bed and grassy lawn.   And like clockwork, he's returned close to the same time, alone again, foraging through whatever bounty my manicured yard provides from its blooming aloes and shedding lysiloma trees.   I suspect he's not a year-round resident but rather a seasonal visitor like another garden resident, his cousin the white-crowned sparrow.  But this Lincoln's sparrow is a sp...

Whether on a desert trail or a manicured golf course, Arizona's climate breeds fertile habitat for rabbits.  Often they are the most abundant wildlife an outdoor enthusiast sees on his adventure.  Especially in a landscaped neighborhood, the most common native species is the desert cottontail.  I've been easily able to photograph this rabbit in various terrains, in multiple poses and with different lighting effects.  Less common is the jack rabbit, technically a hare but sharing the same taxonomic family with rabbits.  He can be five times the size of the desert cottontail, offering an impressive site when encountered in the wild.  I've caught a few glimpses of him along hiking trails, but have unfortunately managed only one single photograph of this large mammal.   He's much faster and stronger than a rabbit so he's better able to outrun his many predators.  As a result, one variety in the desert is called the antelope jack rabbit, aptly...

Birds of prey, or raptors, are probably the most exciting birds to see in the wild.  It's not uncommon to see them majestically soaring in the sky or regally perched on a utility pole.  Most of them are stealthy hunters, frequently using the element of surprise in swift pursuit of a meal.  But the peregrine falcon hunts at an especially high speed, sometimes up to 200 mph, making it the fastest animal on Earth. The red-tailed hawk, Cooper's hawk, Harris' hawk, osprey, bald eagle,  prairie falcon, American kestrel and peregrine falcon seem to make up the majority of the many raptors that call the Phoenix area a year-round home.  While I've regularly encountered and photographed the first seven of these eight birds on my outdoor forays, the last has until now eluded me.  On a recent birding expedition to Gilbert's Water Ranch I was amazed by the vast number of northern shovelers on the riparian preserve's ponds.  I've regularly encountered this seaso...

Many birds have eluded me in my pursuit of photographing them, especially the Montezuma quail in southern Arizona.  But there is a species that resides much closer to my Phoenix home and that is just as elusive, at least when it comes to capturing a good shot of it.  That bird is the kingfisher.  The belted kingfisher is the only kingfisher that commonly calls the waterways of Arizona home, and only in the winter non-breeding season.  The bird has a number of distinguishing characteristics starting with its unique vocalization.  You'll know that you're in one's vicinity when you hear a burst of mechanical clicks that sound more like a Vespa than a bird's call.  It's a noise that's supposed to indicate they're disturbed. Well, I for one am convinced that this bird must always be disturbed because not only is it clamorous but it's difficult to approach.  As a result most of my shots are quite grainy due to the very far distance that the kingfisher'...

One rewarding aspect of birding is looking into a flock of birds that initially appears to be comprised of individuals from the same species and discerning a bird of a completely different breed.  During Phoenix' winter months I'm occasionally  treated to spotting a lone northern shoveler or a wood duck in a group of mallards.  But these individuals contrast vividly with their more common water bird cousins, so identification is not especially difficult. I recently spotted for the second time ever a male lesser scaup among several male ring-necked ducks on one of Papago Park's lakes.   These two species look quite similar so identifying the scaup was exciting for an avid birder like me.  Researching some details on these birds, I've discovered that the two breeds are in fact close cousins.    They are both members of the large family of birds that includes geese and swans, in addition to all ducks like the before-mentioned shovelers, mallards a...

While ambitions of photographing a snowy landscape recently led me to Spur Cross Ranch Conservation area, capturing images of the desert park's many birds might have filled just as much time on my recent visit. I saw many year-round residents like black-throated sparrows, cactus wrens, Abert's towhees, northern cardinals, curved-bill thrashers, house finches, verdins, black-throated sparrows, Gambel's quails and red-tailed hawks.  But a few winter visitors were there also, including flocks of western bluebirds, American robins and other sparrows like the white-crowned. On this clear, freezing morning very few people were hiking the park's many meandering trails.  These pathways cut through dense forests of mesquite trees, crossed a fast-moving Cave Creek and scaled saguaro cacti-filled canyons, all empty of animal life except for the birds that don't need any trails to thrive in the lush desert environment. Gambel's quails. Unidentified sparrow. ...