Baby Hummers

Anna's Hummingbird (Calypte anna)

Its the saga of a tiny hummingird that laid tiny eggs in a tiny nest at a tiny porch on a fake plant... Photos by Peggy Thomas and Binki Alonzo (owner of tiny porch and fake plant, Fountain Hills, AZ)

Baby Cactus Wren

Cactus Wren (Campylorhynchus brunneicappillus)

 
Up in North Phoenix, my friend and fellow birder Jesse Cuilty, scored big-time with these great shots of a baby Cactus Wren nested in her front yard. She claims she's not a good photographer, hah, someone get this gal her own digital camera! Its a crime against humanity for this avid outdoorswoman to not go digital.

Baby Rock Squirrels!

Since when do we have squirrels in Phoenix? I grew up here in the 70's and I don't think I ever saw a squirrel. Now that I'm living in Mesa, we have Rock Squirrels, just hanging out in the backyard like they own the place. But they are awfully cute, where ever they came from. So we put out raw in-shell peanuts and have fun watching them at the feeders.

This spring we have been blessed with 2 adorable baby squirrels.

Peach-faced Lovebirds!?

When I first saw one of these in my neighborhood, I thought someone lost their pet bird. Only later I learned that there are feral flocks of Peach-faced Lovebirds scattered around the Valley, especially here in Mesa. Their colors are just amazing, and they're so darn cute.

Peach faced Lovebirds are actually small parrots from an arid region of South Africa, so they have adapted to our sonoran desert quite well. So how in the heck did they end up here in Arizona? Well, they didn't migrate, thats for sure. It is assumed that a few mating pairs of pet Lovebirds escaped from their homes somewhere here in the Valley, and unlike other escaped pet birds, they survived and continued breeding.

They seem to be picky about which feeders they will go to, and only stay for short periods, and at certain times of the day. I have only seen them in my neighbors backyard, and at Gilbert Water Ranch. See the Map of Lovebird sightings in the Phoenix Metro area.

Birding Next-Door

Today I was marooned at home while my van was in for repair. To ease the frustration of not being able to go birding anywhere on a Saturday, I thought I'd spend the day stalking birds in my next-door neighbor's yard. The grass is always greener...

I was hoping to get photos of the peach-faced love birds who are regulars in my neighbor's yard but are no-shows in mine! But someone much better showed up, as if to say "hey, I'm the one you should be searching for, I'm a true native Arizonan!" Our neighborhood Roadrunner appeared in all his glory, proudly carrying his recent catch - a poor lizard.

This is only my second day of using my camera by attaching it to my new SteadyMount, so the photos are sub par as I become accustomed to the new set-up. So far, its great, I have better control of the camera, and many more shooting angles available.

Greater Roadrunner (Geococcyx californianus)

Superstore Birding?

After receiving this photo taken of an owl nesting in a superstore garden center in northern Arizona, I now know where I'll be birding when it gets too hot outside! Hey, why not? If you're jonesing for a bird-fix, but its 110 degrees outside, gather up the binocs, bird book, and camera and head to your local WalMart, Home Depot, or Lowe's garden center!

Binoculars

Its not easy to hold binoculars when you have limited use of your arms and hands. So I searched the internet looking for a solution. I already owned a neat gadget that attaches my camera to my wheelchair, the Add-a-Lap, available from Don Kreb's Access to Recreation. So I tried mounting the binoculars to the tripod on the Add-a-Lap. but this really limited my viewing angles, and forced me to lean uncomfortably forward to reach the binoculars.

Just when I was about ready to have binocs surgically attached to my forehead, I came across http://www.sportbinox.com/ ! An answer to my prayers! Who cares if I look like a techno-nerd, rolling around the desert with space-age looking binoculars strapped to my head! But the site turned out to be obsolete, there seemed to be no way to order the SportBinox. Its probably for the best, as much as I would love to be seen as the geekiest birder on wheels, I likely would have become disoriented and rolled myself right into a tree or off of a pier!

Then I spotted these little gems - Sightrex, another head mounted binoc. But I wasn't sure I had the manual dexterity to handle the focusing of such small binocs, and the power (10x25) was not really ideal for birding. What is recommended is 8 or 10x42.

Finally I came upon SteadyMount, which is very versatile, would provide a multitude of viewing angles, and was a steal at $150 ($130 for the SteadyMount and $20 for the rail clamp)! It can hold binoculars, or a spotting scope, digital camera, or video camera.

I went out and bought some low-end 10x42 Bushnell binocs, and a binocular tripod adapter, put them on the SteadyMount, and attached the SteadyMount to the armrest of my wheelchair. I've been on 2 long guided bird-walks with them, and they work great!

Here's the binocular tripod adapter -