Sunday, December 24, 2006

An Interlude of Cardinals

YUMA, AZ--Barb, in a comment below, asks the question, "How is the birding?"
MaryAnn and I are not exactly 'birders', but we do notice what is around us. So far we have seen cactus wrens, Gila woodpeckers, thrashers, hawks, Gambel's quails, and these wonderful cardinals.
We were eating lunch at the Desert Museum near Tucson, when they flew over to check us out. Oh where I grew up in Illinois I used to try to spot them, prowling through the neighborhood with my Little Golden Book of Birds...but in eighteen years I only saw two pairs. Now they were perched right next to me.

It is quite a sight, even if the bird isn't exactly rare.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the bird photos. You sound like the kind of birder I am. Informal! I do know the areas you're visiting are prime birding habitat though, and it seems to be bearing that out.

Anonymous said...

Were you at the Sonoran Desert Museum, which is Tucson's zoo? An amazing place.

It's too bad Sabino Canyon Recreation Area ("Arizona's desert oasis") was badly damaged in the heavy rains this year. Has it all been re-opened to visitors?