Mike in the Wild

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 ...

I've enjoyed writing about many of the avian winter visitors to the Phoenix area in a couple of recent posts.  For the most part, these snowbirds are varieties of ducks like mergansers and shovelers, all frequenting the area's waterways and lakes.  But it's not just water birds that migrate great distances to escape the snow and cold in the North; a number of sparrows make the same journey. Last year I was happy to regularly encounter green-tailed towhees at Phoenix' Desert Botanical Garden.  With some of its plumage as bright as a parrot, it's a colorful member of the usually drab sparrow family.  Another species sports a more standard palette of grays, blacks, whites and browns but nevertheless still stands out because of its sharply contrasting pattern of head feathers.   Aptly named, it's the white-crowned sparrow and it wears its bold black and white rows of top feathers proudly.    This more common bird is easily identifiable in the...