Mike in the Wild

I first heard the expression "bluebird day" on a ski trip, when a ski resort wanted to advertise a picture perfect day of fresh powder snow  with clear, sunny skies.  But I was reminded of the term in another way when I encountered a new blue-colored bird for the very first time. The lazuli bunting is a member of the cardinal family, but is not the bluest of these birds.  Its cousin the blue grosbeak takes that prize in Arizona, even though he's not named after the lapis lazuli, a semi-precious gemstone. Any first time sighting of a bird is always an exhilarating moment, especially when you've targeted him on your outing.  I had heard this bunting was in the area from Jay's Bird Barn, the local seed store, so I made a point to be on the lookout during a Sunday morning outing.  I quickly saw him in the grasses and reeds growing in the mostly dry Willow Creek near my Prescott neighborhood, and managed a few distant but grainy shots.   A couple hour...

"Stop calling that  bird a robin redbreast, it's a plain, old robin," are words that resonated in my mind when I first started photographing this avian a couple years ago.  The childhood chastisements were from the older neighborhood kids who wanted to show how much they knew.  While bruising my ego a little, they didn't dampen my interest in this very common and easily identifiable bird in my suburban New Jersey neighborhood.   Many years later and many miles away, and much to my surprise, I also see the bird in my Phoenix neighborhood.  I've always associated the robin with green lawns, pulling earth worms from the muddy ground of just watered grasses.  It turns out that the irrigated landscape of the desert southwest is an ideal hunting ground for this insect loving avian.  It also turns out that this "robin redbreast" isn't just a plain old robin, it's an American robin.   A real robin is actually the European robin, not living ...