Manitou Lake Crossbills

Last weekend I went up to Manitou Lake to look for Red Crossbills. I had seen them here before but had only taken really poor photographs. The trip started very slow but ended with a feeding frenzy of Crossbills, Pygmy Nuthatch, and Dark-eyed Juncos.

Red Crossbill

Red Crossbill

Pygmy Nuthatch

Dark-eyed Junco

Madera Canyon

I arrived at Madera Canyon around 8:00 AM on a cold and rainy day. I planned on hiking up the Super trail hoping that I could find an Elegant Trogon. Because the light was so poor I considered leaving the camera and tripod in the car. I thought that I wouldn't be able to get any good photos and that I probably wouldn't see a Trogon in December. Luckily, I decided to take the camera. After hiking for about 1/4 mile in near darkness I caught a glimps of some movement on the right side of the trail. It took me a second to realize that the exotic bird that I was looking at was the Elegant Trogon.

Elegant Trogon

Mexican Jay

Bridled Titmouse

Arizona Woodpecker

Acorn Woodpecker

Lost Dutchman State Park

Lost Dutchman State Park is located 40 miles east of Phoenix in the Sonoran desert. It provides a good opportunity to photograph the common desert species. The bird feeders by the visitors center gave me some easy shots of Gambel's Quail.

Phainopepla female

Harris's Antelope Squirrel


Gila Woodpeck

Gambel's Quail female

Gambel's Quail male

Curve-billed Thrasher

Cactus Wren

Boyce Thompson Arboretum

Boyce Thompson Arboretum exists to instill an appreciation of plants in people. It is also a very good spot to find desert birds. It is located in the very scenic area about an hour east of Phoenix and close to Superior Arizona.

Verdin

Phainopepla

Curve-billed Thrasher


Broad-billed Hummingbird

Black-throated Sparrow

Alberts Towhee

Southeast Arizona Trip

Last week I took a trip down to Southeast Arizona. I visited Sweetwater Wetlands, Boyce Thompson Arboretum, Madera Canyon and Lost Dutchman State Park. The next few posts will cover this trip.

Elegant Trogon - Madera Canyon
f5.6, 1/60 iso 1600, Exposure Compensation -1, Canon 40D 400mm

I photographed this Trogon early in the morning on a foggy overcast day. The poor lighting forced me to use an extremely high iso setting which resulted in a very grainy image. A noise filtering utility called Noiseware Professional was recently brought to my attention by Bill Schmoker (brdpics.blogspot.com). Using this utility I was able to extract a decent photo.

Eleven Mile Canyon

I headed up to Eleven Mile Canyon today hoping to see Crossbills and Albert's Squirrels. It was a quiet day but I did spot this American Dipper on my way out. At this point Eleven Mile Canyon accounts for 100% of my American Dipper finds. I find that American Dippers love to be photographed. I setup my tripod and camera as close as I could due to the steep bank of the river. The Dipper seemed to think that I could get better shots if he flew over to the rock right in front of me, so that is what he did. Due to the limited lighting I was forced to use an iso of 800.

A great day at Antero Reservoir

Today at Antero Reservoir I was lucky enough to see 3 and photograph 2 lifers.  All 3 species are listed on the Colorado Rare Bird Alert list. They are: White-winged Scoter, Yellow-billed Loon and Snow Bunting. Thanks to Gary and Linda for sharing their scope with me so that I could see the Scoter.