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WINGS Birding Tours – Photo Gallery

Arizona: A Winter Week in the Southeast

This time of year southeast Arizona is particularly remarkable.
Long shadows are cast from noble Oak Trees at mid-elevation…
…where inquisitive Western Scrub-Jays survey…
…and extraordinary Rufous-capped Warblers chatter.
We’ll search for any source of water…
…that may hold a solitary Black Phoebe…
…a foraging Spotted Sandpiper…
…a wading Neotropic Cormorant…
…or thirsty Curve-billed Thrashers.
In winter the desert in and around Tucson harbors denizens…
…such as Cactus Wrens…
…ruby-red Northern Cardinals of the ‘superbus’ race…
…Black-throated Sparrows with their bell-like songs…
…and solar-faced Verdins.
As many as six species of hummingbird winter in Arizona including this carmine male Anna’s…
…photogenic Rivoli’s…
…and peckish Costa’s.
Familiar resident specialties dwell in their normal haunts…
…like this Arizona Woodpecker…
…the rose-blushed Hepatic Tanager…
…and even the sparsely distributed Black-capped Gnatcatcher.
We’ll base for five nights where gently rolling grasslands meet the riparian strip of the San Pedro River…
…where a morning walk through the non-grazed grasses…
…could yield a tree full of golden Yellow-headed Blackbirds…
… the Lillian’s subspecies of Eastern Meadowlark…
…and if we’re lucky a glimpse of a Pronghorn.
Before dinners we’ll gather in comfort to discuss the bird list for the day…
…perhaps accompanied outside the window by the tenant Ladder-backed Woodpeckers…
… rare but regular White-throated Sparrows…
…or a Scaled Quail belting its two-note melody.
Though not always in barns this Barn Owl decided to roost in one.
We’ll go where the road leads us…
…to the tops of mountains if snow is absent…
…but where ice is always possible.
A day spent in the fertile Sulphurs Springs Valley could produce thousands of Sandhill Cranes…
…close Vermilion Flycatchers…
…and perhaps a Ross’s Goose with their larger Snow cousins.
Abundant agricultural lands will likely harbor regal Ferruginous Hawks.
Birding in Tucson’s city parks can be excellent this time of year and sometimes harbor rare winter visitors including…
…Lewis’s Woodpecker…
…Harris’s Sparrow…
…Greater Pewees…
… or an eastern warbler like this Black-and-white.
The scenery will be unsurpassed…
…so sit back with me, relax, and enjoy this tour.

 

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