Mike in the Wild

The mourning doves gather like vultures on the highest eaves of my house.  They're waiting for an opportunity to swoop down and vacuum up the few seeds I put out for several of my favorite backyard birds.  Puffed out and clamoring, the larger doves bulldoze the lankier cardinals and scrawnier house finches that get in their way. A northern cardinal pair are indeed two of the birds I'm eager to feed.  They are the only members of the species I ever see in my Phoenix neighborhood and are probably surpassed in their eye-catching color by only the herons and mallards that ply the area's waterways.   Outside of chasing them away with my imposingly human size and thunderous hand claps, there's not a lot I can do to keep the mourning doves away from the meager sunflower seeds I leave out.   At least that was the case until I realized I had a specialized bird feeder hanging in front of me: a wall sconce for votive candles. It's been on my backyard's block wall...

My summers in Prescott always begin with much eagerness for the changes from my desert life in Phoenix: cool temperatures, dark night skies, monsoon thunder storms, verdant forest landscapes, an abundance of critters like skunks, and lots and lots of birds.   After nearing completion of my thirteenth season escaping some of the hottest temperatures in Arizona - not to mention record-breaking - I've not been disappointed on the subject of birds.  Every late spring I love reacquainting myself with the woodpeckers, jays, juncos, nuthatches and titmice that call the juniper and scrub oaks a full-time home.   But it might be the more challenging search for migratory birds that I most look forward to every year.  Plenty of neotropical birds that spend our cooler winter months in Central or South America breed in North America during our warm summer.  Orioles, warblers and cardinals are just a few of the avian families whose many species travel to or through ...

Late last year I wrote about scattering seeds in my Phoenix backyard in order to attract some neighborhood birds, in particular a couple of northern cardinals.  From November until very recently this showy pair made regular, frequent visits to feed on the sunflower seeds that I laid a few at a time on my block wall or that I tossed among succulents in a long, raised planter.   I had figured out early in the year that these birds liked that seed and didn't live exclusively on the millet and other tiny grains that served as the basis for most generic bird seed blends.  As a result I was able to keep the more common and much more numerous house sparrows, house finches and mourning doves to a minimum by providing the sunflower seeds in very limited quantities to my unique and welcome guests.   The cardinal seems quite adept at eating the sunflower seed, as it synchronizes  its large beak and dexterous tongue to  crack open the shell in i...

I write quite a bit about the birds I see from my deck in Prescott and from my patio in Phoenix.  In fact, one of the messages I like to spread on "Mike in the Wild" is that the wonder and beauty of nature is right outside our windows, or at least just a short distance off our porches. At my mountain home I entice my feathered subjects with several attractions: three feeders filled individually with seeds, suet and nectar; a ceramic bowl where I replenish freshwater; and small piles of peanuts for the jays.  As a result, last summer from the Fourth of July weekend to the fourth week of August, I identified almost forty individual bird species visiting my forested property.  In contrast, I only maintain a hummingbird feeder at my Phoenix home where I usually see the Anna's and Costa's varieties.  My ten year-old cat has frequent access to my walled-in yard so I don't want to inadvertently set traps for other garden visitors.  Of  shocking concern, house ...

My small Phoenix backyard is in many ways an extension of my home.  Its patio provides extra space to relax with a book or entertain friends with a cocktail.  A gas-flamed grill lets me cook authentic paella and roast Hatch chili peppers when they appear in the local markets late in the summer.  And the garden space guarantees that a cornucopia of succulents and trees will nourish my love of nature and gardening. Further on this latter point, my yard also feeds many of my neighborhood's birds.  And I'm thrilled that it's a place that a pair of northern cardinals continues to regularly visit.  As showy as they are in their size and color, and as vocal as they are with their frequent songs and alerts, it's often the fluttering sound they make when they fly that alerts me to their presence in the area.  Only the flapping wings of a mourning dove taking flight seems noisier. In addition, squawking Gila woodpeckers, trilling white-crowned sparrows and crooni...

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...