Mike in the Wild

It's been a long time since I've seen a western screech owl: six years, by my rough record-keeping.  So I was delighted to recently witness one in my Phoenix backyard after only a few days back in town following my long summer stay in Prescott.   The last time I wrote about this small owl species, I had just seen one roosting during the day at the Desert Botanical Garden.  It was the second time I had seen one there, and the third time ever.  The first was actually in an adjacent community to mine in Phoenix, when I watched an owl over the course of several days as it basked in a winter's early morning light from a perch in the hollow of a saguaro cactus.   Over the next six years, I occasionally heard the western screech owl's bouncing-ball hoots during winter nights in the desert.  However I was much more apt to hear the deep calls of a great horned owl, which I was also more likely to see on my sunrise runs.  Last week for the first time s...

Owls are not the easiest bird to photograph, mostly because they're nocturnal, pursuing prey at night and sleeping during the day.  The burrowing owl takes exception to this behavior by hunting when there is daylight, in addition to exhibiting another non owl-like trait  by living underground.   In my own birding pursuits I've had to settle on seeing owls mostly roosting quietly and safely hidden in a tree's canopy.  I've often thought that it might be more rewarding to record an owl's hoots rather than take a picture of him since the great horned owl's deep and resonating nighttime calls are as much a part of Arizona's nightly sounds as crickets, coyotes, barking dogs and automobile traffic.  During a very good span of birding last week I was especially excited to see a western screech owl at the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix one morning.   It might be my third encounter in the wild with this diminutive bird who is apparently more often ...

Millions if not billions of people suffer from the Monday morning blues, mourning the lost freedom of the weekend as they head back to work or school.  But a few lucky people anxiously await the start of the work week because it's an opportunity to join an enthusiastic group for their regular Monday morning bird walks. Held at the  Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix, seasoned birders escort a group throughout the museum's grounds, making frequent stops to identify both common and rare birds.  Counting all bird sightings for future reference, they share facts and details about every species spotted.  For example, on my recent visit they positively identified a blue gray gnatcatcher, a bird I'd have otherwise thought was the more common black-tailed species.  They also pointed out where the last sightings of a western screech owl were, and sure enough, he was home in one of them!   And the tour's leader quickly triangulated the unique tweet of a pyrrhu...