Darlene and I set out to look for raptors between Sells and Casa Grande, and ended up seeing a few: a couple of Crested Caracaras, a Prairie Falcon, the usual overwhelming numbers of Red-tailed Hawks and American Kestrels. We also ran across a spectacular flock of more than 1,500 White-crowned Sparrows at a small pool [...]

No one clings more eagerly to regional prejudices than the recent immigrant. Snug and smug here in my beautiful adopted home of Tucson, I think of Phoenix as full of bluegrass, smog, and the politically backward. And all that’s probably true. But I have to admit that every time I venture north to Maricopa County, [...]

It’s a genuinely wintry day here in Tucson, the skies dark, the temperatures chilly, the wind coming up. I even felt a few raindrops on my quick afternoon visit to Fort Lowell, and we are forecast to have snow tonight down to 3400 feet.
The star of this afternoon’s show was a very snazzy little male [...]

Cactus Wrens were among the 39 species we tallied today on our urban and suburban CBC route; there’s very little that could be considered “wild” in our sector, but we made the best of it all the same. No rarities, but a couple of nice surprises, chief among them a Hutton’s Vireo at Quail Valley golf course [...]

My SaddleBrooke group had a great time out on the flats this morning. Most of the excitement was provided by raptors, of course, including Burrowing Owls and a spectacular Harlan’s Hawk. Crested Caracaras, one of our major targets, showed well on the ground and in the air, too.
Mountain Bluebird numbers are still increasing, and we can [...]