Mike in the Wild

We're lucky to have in the middle of the Phoenix metropolitan sprawl a world-class desert plant museum and education center.  The Desert Botanical Garden's collections of cacti, succulents, trees and plants from all the globe's arid regions are arranged in a multitude of beautiful landscapes, habitats and gardens.  Unsurprisingly, the desert flora attracts a multitude of critters that include many birds, both resident and migratory. But the park of course makes money and needs to attract the people that spend it.  So the garden also has restaurants, shops, art galleries and regular events like the holiday season's Las Noces de las Luminarias when luminaria bags, strings of lights and live bands overtake the peace and calm you might associate with the grounds.  And over at least the last ten years there have been frequent but temporary art installations that have placed contemporary sculptures and lights throughout the desert landscape. As a wildlife and nature lo...

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...

Besides the ever-present rock pigeon, house sparrows might be the most common bird that the majority of people see in their everyday lives.  It's impossible to enjoy a lunch al fresco at your favorite restaurant without one of these persistent birds begging for crumbs.  But as widespread as this animal is in North American cities, it's not a native.  In fact it's not even a sparrow as Americans know them. The house sparrow was introduced to the continent first in the nineteenth century, and after several additional introductions spread from as far north as Canada into South America.  It's in a family of birds known generally as Old World sparrows, as opposed to the many more species in an entirely separate family often referred to as New World sparrows.  In this latter group are a wide-ranging variety of birds that include towhees, juncos and many with a last name sparrow but with descriptive first names like green-tailed, rufous-crowned or black-throated....

Last year I wrote about the birds I encountered on a trip to Germany and France.  It was a ten day vacation to see some sights along the Rhine and Mosel Rivers and in nearby Loraine.  What I might not have mentioned is that the trip finished with a visit to my aunt's home in rural Dellfeld, near Zweibrucken, in the Pfalz region of Southwestern Germany.   I went back to Europe last week, but this time just to Rheinland-Pfalz, and only to see my aunt.  The contrast in November weather with May's was notable, with long, sunny and warm days replaced with short, cloudy and cold ones.  While the late autumn scenery was colorfully scenic, the low temperatures made walks along the Schwarzbach, let alone any attempt at birding, frigidly unpleasant. But having an elderly aunt who's living alone means any visit is also an opportunity to help with home and garden projects.  And fortunately for me, Aunt Pat is as interested in her yard's wildlife as I...

Except for their varying sizes and wide range of colors, all tyrant flycatchers seem quite similar in appearance and behavior to me.   At least this is the case with the specific members of this largest of bird families that I encounter near my home in the American Southwest.  However, the vast majority of these New World species can be found in their diverse habitats throughout Latin America. In Arizona I can usually start to identify a flycatcher when I see a small bird perched upright on a pole or branch.  Of course many birds sit still from a safe vantage point like a street lamp, but it's only the flycatcher that I notice leaping and fluttering from that position in a unique acrobatic hunting display.  Nine times out of ten he returns to that exact same safe place to try his luck at another chance for more insects. Just last week on a short walk in my Phoenix neighborhood I encountered three flycatchers, all similarly hunting for bugs.  I believe e...

Earlier this year, I had my first confirmed encounter with a peregrine falcon when I witnessed one deftly hunting northern shovelers at Gilbert's Water Ranch.  It seemed appropriate to see him in flight as the raptor is renowned as the fasted animal on Earth.   And just this week, I saw one for the second time.  But on this occasion it was much closer to my home and was mostly earthbound, quietly perched atop a neighborhood tree.  I like to tell my friends that if you see a bird-of-prey in the wild, chances are it's a red-tailed hawk.  And if it's not that common raptor, it's probably a Cooper's hawk, quite similar in appearance except for striped tail feathers instead of solid red.  But which one you're seeing probably depends a lot on exactly where you are. I've traveled many miles of Arizona's quieter highways, off the busy interstates while on the way to birding hotspots like Madera Canyon, Page Springs and Santa Cruz Flats.  Along these ro...