Category Archives: Desert birds

Del Dios Gorge

As I sit here watching light snow fall and the temperature hover around 20 degrees, I think back two days when I was a little peevcd about birding in the hot sun and windy, dusty conditions along Del Dios Gorge Trail, a ten-mile trail popular with hikers, mountain bikers, and runners. The Santa Anna winds were stirring up dust and the birds were laying low — but I knew I’d be back in Vermont in two days so I decided to enjoy the warm walk.

It was tough to steady the camera in the stiff wind but this Cassin’s Kingbird was cooperative.

Later up the trail, I saw a couple of Say’s Phoebes.

This was the last warm weather birding for me for a few months and it was a good outing. After a long trip home, we are once again watching winter birds at the feeder.

Anza-Borrego Birds

Anza-Borrego Desert State Park is the largest state park in California and after lots of recent rain, about to pop with wildflowers. Here are some of the early blooms as photographed by Sally.

The sunrises and sunsets here are spectacular.

As are some of the birds. One of the toughest birds for me to photograph is the Verdin. Not only do they bounce from limb to limb, they often seem to be buried in the brush. Here is one that paused for a moment.

This Western Bluebird gave us some great looks on a walk to the Visitor Center.

Likewise, this Say’s Phoebe posed early one morning.

Perhaps the most common bird here is the White-crowned Sparrow.

We are here for a couple of days more, then off to San Diego for family, friends, and birds.

Yesterday’s Critters

I decided to document some of the wildlife I saw yesterday here at Falcon State Park as we prepare to move on. Here’s a Greater Roadrunner skulking through our back yard.

I took a brief drive down the nearby “dump road,” often a good spot for desert species and found this Harris’s Hawk perched quite a way off, but watching me.

Just further ahead this Jackrabbit, the first I’ve seen, watched from behind a barbed wire fence.

Driving back, I spotted this hawk perched beside the highway. Traffic being light, I stopped and took a few shots. I’m calling it a juvenile Redtail.

Later, on a dog walk, we encountered this gathering of Redwing Blackbirds chattering away. Each day this week, there has been a constant stream of blackbirds and cormorants heading northward.

Last evening, while driving out to a spot with a reliable 4G signal, I saw a group of Javelinas crossing up ahead. This guy waited, as I slowed down, and stayed pretty well hidden.

As I returned at dusk, this deer stood beside a speed limit sign on the park loop. The deer here look pretty healthy although their numbers are modest and unlike some parks, they are wary of humans.

Since we’ve been here, I saw a bobcat crossing the road way up ahead one morning but have yet to see any of the many coyotes that live here. I’ve certainly heard them, sometimes rather close It is evident from the scat on the trails that there are many critters around. Penny, if I don’t watch her, is in hog heaven.

Free Range Porkers

When I bird with Penny in our woods at home I never have her on leash and her wildlife encounters are usually with red squirrels or chipmunks – she tends to ignore deer. We have encountered a few Black Bears, which either I have spotted first or at least grab her, one moose chase years ago, and a couple of coyotes/coydogs that she deigned to chase.

In the South/Southwest, I tend to keep her leashed – often because of park rules but also for her safety. Yesterday morning was a good example: we were birding a scrubland looking for desert birds and had seen a Harris’s Hawk, several Verdin, even a Greater Roadrunner. No one was around as we trudged down a long truck trail and I had her leash looped through my belt and we were getting tangled every so often.

I was about to let her loose for a bit when up ahead, a black object stood in the path. A javelina, no three, no even more. Penny hadn’t seen them as I took a picture of these two watching us.

They scooted across, melting into the brush, then this one ambled over. You can see how black they are against the clay trail.

By now, Penny had them spotted and one last one tore across the opening. We move down the road and her nose was at full alert. I could hear a little rustling on both sides so I clapped my hands, told them to get lost, and we continued on. These porkers had some young ones but unle the big feral hogs in other parts of Texas, these guys are wary of us. Or at least that’s my story.

It’s interesting that just two nights ago, I suggested to Mary that we not but pork until we get back to Vermont. Antibiotics, feedlots, gestation crates – it’s the only type of pork you can get in most of the country. These guys, while free of that stuff, would probably be like eating a leather belt. Hard to fatten up on sagebrush, tumbleweed, and cactus.

The best bird of the morning was a Green-tailed Towhee which I heard, and glimpsed. I’m at 127 species for this county and hope to hit 140 before we leave. We hiked about five miles today – no hills but lots of soft clay – and Penny has started her 12th year with a good workout.

Some Birds of the Desert

Gambel’s Quail are runners, very hard to photograph as they scurry through the brush. Here’s one almost obscured as it darted past me.

On the other hand, this Red-winged Blackbird was so intent on singing that he allowed me to walk right up to him.

The big brassy Cactus Wrens have been pretty obvious throughout most of the Southwest but it wasn’t until New Mexico that I got some good looks at their smaller cousins, Canyon Wrens.

One of my life birds this trip is the Sage Sparrow, who like some of the quail, likes to run from you. This one sat still for a photo.

And lastly, one of the neat birds of west Texas, southern Arizona and southern New Mexico is the handsome Black-throated Sparrow.