Darlene and I decided to visit the southernmost parts of this meteorological sauna called Arizona today; it was hot, it was humid, but it was a good day all the same.
We started at the Mesquital migrant trap, just west of Tucson, where the usual Rufous-winged Sparrows were joined by a few Cassin’s Sparrows: you can’t beat [...]

The monsoon has worked its wonders in spades this year, bringing to our yard not just great patches of the neighbors’ roofs but also some nice late-season flowers.

The fish hook barrel cactuses are on fire all around the neighborhood, and even the chollas, those delicate spring bloomers, are giving it another go.

Ants, bees, butterflies are [...]

I love museums, and old-fashioned museums above all, so I was jealous when Alison got to visit Vienna’s Naturhistorisches Museum without me a few weeks ago. In partial consolation, she brought me this photo of the text accompanying a case of stuffed trogons:

The part that caught her eye is the second sentence, which begins
Trogons are sluggish, [...]

I suppose it’s a bit early still to proclaim the start of ornithological winter, but an adult male Phainopepla was perched in an ocotillo along our driveway this morning, giving the neighborhood a suspicious look-over with that red eye. This charming species is abundant at our elevation all winter long, but summers find them moving [...]

An adult GREAT KNOT was photographed Monday in West Virginia, of all places! More details, including links to the photos, on the West Virginia list and on ID Frontiers.
If this bird reappears, I definitely feel a major road trip coming on.