A pair of Sulphur-bellied Flycatchers was feeding a stub-tailed, stub-billed fledgling this afternoon above the ‘warbler pool’ in upper Madera Canyon. Given the usual early-autumn departure of this species from the Arizona Sky Islands, I was surprised to see a family group with so young a youngster still in tow, but the new Arizona Breeding […]

Shorebirds come second only to sparrows in my birding heart, and many of my friends from the east are surprised to hear how satisfying wader-watching is here in the desert. This arid landscape concentrates the birds at sewage ponds, where they can often be observed at breathtakingly close range. One of my favorite localities is the […]

Nearly a year ago, I spent a pleasant hour cobbling together an owl box out of scrap lumber and salvaged nails, then another, less pleasant hour trying to fasten the thing into our mesquite tree. This spring, Gila Woodpeckers and Gambel’s Quail showed an interest (those quail will nest anywhere, it seems), but the box […]