I tagged along with Denis, Darlene, and Starr for a day on the Santa Cruz Flats. We had hopes but no ‘targets’, making for a relaxed outing and some great surprises.
The Marana Pecan Grove (which is actually visible in the photos accompanying yesterday’s New York Times article on the Evergreen Air Park!) was relatively quiet, [...]

No, not a mockingbird or a myna, but a Lesser Goldfinch. One particularly talented male here sang more or less continuously for the hour I spent in the yard on this fine warm spring morning; his song included easily recognized imitations of American Kestrel, Ladder-backed Woodpecker, Curve-billed Thrasher, Verdin, Phainopepla, House Finch, and House Sparrow. 
 
 

Famous for its ‘tropical’ specialties in the warmer seasons, Kino Springs is a completely different place in winter, crawling with waterfowl and passerines, as our group discovered today.
The double pond at the golf course clubhouse was covered with ducks, including Canvasback, Lesser Scaup, and a great variety of dabblers. A spectacular Sora fed in the open [...]

Eight of us set out this morning, only to find activity greatly dampened by the damp, chilly overcast (feel sorry for me, I live in southeast Arizona!).
A couple of hours at the Marana Pecan Grove did afford great looks at Abert’s Towhees in their multitudes, and a fallax Song Sparrow was chimp-chimping along the ditch. A [...]

A morning with co-birder Darlene at Bill Forbes’s Elephant Head pond, just around the corner from Madera Canyon (Bill’s website is www.phototrap.com).  This very interesting bit of restored wildlife habitat is accessible by reservation, and has more Lark Buntings than I’ve ever seen at a single feeder: at one point there were 150 crowded onto [...]