You never know what a handful of sunflower seed will attract in the desert. This morning it was this juvenile Red-tailed Hawk, perched high on a pole above our usually crowded feeders.

His arrival didn’t cause the panic that the local Cooper’s Hawks and Peregrines use to such great advantage,  but the smaller birds still treated [...]

What should have been winter’s last gasp turned into a mighty huff and puff these last few days, with heavy rain in Tucson proper and rain and snow up here, just a couple of hundred feet higher; the mountain slopes are still snow-covered, and the views are full of wonderful incongruities as I wander through [...]

It’s great fun to hear the rattle of a Belted Kingfisher over the city traffic–and just as disconcerting to look up to find the bird perched in a mesquite!

An Ivory Gull, potentially a first for South Dakota, is being seen even as I write at Oahe Dam on the Missouri River.
Historically a very rare visitor anywhere south of Canada, this species is said to be in severe decline throughout its holarctic range, making this one even more “mega” than it would have been [...]

Neither question very hard, but each another excuse to show off the winter waterfowl diversity in downtown Tucson!
I count 7 species here. You?

And now, how many species are represented in the series of photos below?

Enough ducks! Back to some real birding.