Mike in the Wild

The large number of cardinals that migrate through or into Arizona, not to mention the two colorful species of the family that live here year-round, were an early source of inspiration and excitement when I caught the birding bug a couple of years ago.   The scarlet-colored northern cardinal ranges over a wide swath of the state and its drabber cousin, the pyrrhuloxia, lives in the lower third, with both residing here year-round.  But most other members of the cardinalidae family that we might see are migrants, coming seasonally into the state for summer breeding or flying  through en route to their seasonal homes north or south.  It was this latter case when a lazuli bunting pair showed up briefly in my Prescott yard last spring.   What was the chance that during this year's fall migration the same bird might show up in my yard during its trip homeward?  Slim to none was my first thought, and to date I've not had to question that calcula...

Maybe lightning does strike twice in the same place, or at least when it comes to spotting new cardinals in the wild.  After finding my first lazuli buntings migrating through my Prescott neighborhood last weekend, I was fortunate to find western tanagers in nearby Watson Woods.   While the buntings were indeed a first for me, what distinguishes my encounter with the tanagers is I actually got my first good photographs of this colorful bird.   The western tanager migrates from Mexico and Central America like a lot of cardinals, and like the blue grosbeak this species regularly breeds in the Prescott area.  Over the past couple years I've seen several flashes of yellow high in our cottonwoods and even once got a distant and grainy shot that showed his flaming red head.  But Sunday's walk in Watson Woods rewarded me with several encounters with at least one male that was patient and close enough to let me get my best photographs yet.   An i...

I've written before that spotting a cardinal in the wild is always an exciting and colorful moment.  Many people call it the prettiest bird in the United States, and the fact that seven of our states call the avian their state bird probably makes that official. Arizonans are lucky that the northern cardinal - its official name - calls their state home.  And I am specifically fortunate that at least one pair lives in my central Phoenix neighborhood. Occasionally I hear the melodious and repetitive call of the male, and if fast getting my camera, I can get a shot of him high in a backyard tree or even higher in some neighborhood palm trees just beyond my yard's wall.  Recently, the female of the pair let me get some close shots of her in my lysiloma tree, allowing me some stealthy birding in the privacy of my own garden.   Her call seemed less elaborate than her partner's, only sounding like a sharp and repetitive tweep . The flash of the male's scarlet live...

There are a number of cardinal species in the Americas, with the brilliantly red-colored northern cardinal being the most famous in the United States.  But the Arizona deserts are a year-round home to another cardinal, the pyrrhuloxia.  Gray with red highlights, while sporting a pointier crest and stubbier beak than his famous cousin, he calls the American Southwest and the deserts of central Mexico home. Phoenix doesn't get a lot of sightings of the pyrrhuloxia, unlike Tucson's surrounding deserts almost a hundred miles to the south.  But a lone male seems to have taken up residence at the Desert Botanical Garden in the center of the metropolitan area's urban sprawl.  He seems to thrive in the acres of habitat that showcase the world's heat-loving and drought-tolerant flora. And this desert cardinal as he's sometimes called seems to be living at the northern-most limit of his species' range, providing a lucky chance for Central Arizona's birders to conv...

Spotting a cardinal in the wild is always an exciting and colorful moment.  Many people call it the prettiest bird in the United States, and the fact that seven of our states call the red avian their state bird probably makes that official.  In fact, this popular species that is really called the northern cardinal to be exact, is just one of many in a quite colorful family of - technically speaking -  cardinalidae . Traditionally, there were just a few birds in this taxonomic family.   But recently, science has determined through genetics that a number of grosbeaks, tanagers and buntings also belong in this classification.  It turns out that an older method of categorizing birds by their sizes, colors, and beak shapes didn't stand up to modern molecular analysis. So even though all the members of this expanded family of birds don't have the same shaped bill, the males are almost always brilliantly colored.   And their beaks are all strong enough to eat...

Botanical gardens abound in the desert, almost in defiance of the preconception that life doesn't thrive in arid climates.  Boyce Thompson Arboretum State Park, Arizona's oldest and largest, takes the idea to another level.  It makes a point to feature not just native Sonoran Desert flora, but plants from all the dry landscapes of North and South America, southern Africa and Australia.   Spread over close to 400 acres, the park's paths meander through endless collections of cacti, agaves, trees, bushes and flowers.  The preserve owes its existence to mining magnate Colonel William Boyce Thompson, who donated his winter house and its surrounding garden to the arboretum in 1928. Nestled along Queen Queek, below scenic Picket Post Mountain, the park is an easy one hour drive east from central Phoenix into Tonto National Forest.  It features various biomes, including a eucalyptus forest, an expanse of the Chihuahuan Desert, a grove of fruit trees and a man-made ...