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| A view of "the valley" from the rugged terrain of the National Trail, South Mountain Park, Phoenix, AZ; 12/23/2008. |
One of our usual places to hike when we are visiting Phoenix is South Mountain Park (Above), which boasts to be one the country's largest municipal park, featuring over 16,000 acres and over 50 miles of trails for hiking, horseback riding and mountain biking. This is the park where I saw my first Loggerhead Shrike, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, and Says Phoebe, long before I became a more serious birder.
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| Cactus Wren, South Mt. Park, Phoenix, AZ; 12/22/2011. |
Our latest hike at South Mountain, didn't yield a lot of birds, as I didn't see many during the first half hour of the hike, then we dropped into a ravine and birds appeared all over the place, such as the Cactus Wren (Above). Other birds that finally emerged were a Northern Mockingbird, Says Phoebes, Black-throated Sparrows, White-crowned Sparrows (which were probably the most numerous of any single species during my week in Arizona), House Finches, House Sparrows, a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, and ny favorite of the day, a Rock Wren (below).
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| Rock Wren, South Mt. Park, Phoenix, AZ; 12/22/2011. |
The Rock Wren (Above) was only the second one I have ever seen. The first being in Utah in June of 2009. Other photos of birds from this particular hike are below:
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| Black-throated Sparrow, South Mt. Park, Phoenix, AZ; 12/22/2011. |
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| Curve-billed Thrasher, South Mt. Park, Phoenix, AZ; 12/22/2011. |
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| Northern Mockingbird, South Mt. Park, Phoenix, AZ; 12/22/2011. |
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| Jack Rabbit (Yes I realize it's not a bird), South Mt. Park, Phoenix, AZ; 12/22/2011. |
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| Says Phoebe, South Mt. Park, Phoenix, AZ; 12/22/2011. |
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| White-crowned Sparrows, South Mt. Park, Phoenix, AZ; 12/22/2011. |
2 comments:
I've never cared for sparrows, but that black-throated is a handsome fella.
I used to think the same thing - all sparrows were uninteresting PBB's (Plain Brown Birds). But I have since learned a lot about the many varieties and have learned to respect and enjoy them. See my blog posts from 8/17/10 thru 8/27/10. see my post - http://northernillinoisbirder.blogspot.com/2010/08/its-just-old-sparrow-lark-sparrow.html
Have a great day! Jon
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