Madera Canyon is one of the premier birding hotspots in the Tucson area and I spent about 6 hours there. At the Santa Rita Lodge they put out hummingbird and seed feeders, which really brings in the birds. I captured this Hepatic Tanager in the sun allowing me to increase the shutter speed to 1/800s, stop down to f/5.6 and with a low ISO125.
Jeannine, our Choco Lab Diesel, our Leonberger Kaja, and me hit the road on December 5th with the Tucson area being our destination. One of my favorite photos from the trip was this Painted Redstart. I headed to Madera Canyon about an hour before sunrise. I heard a bird calling and I didn’t recognize the song. I hunted down the sound and was rewarded with this beautiful life bird.
I was looking at ebird hotspots in my area when I found one for Cedar Hill Canyon just north of Virginia City, NV. I odd thing was that no checklists had been submitted for the Canyon so I decided to take a look. I hiked up the canyon and as I got back to my truck and was putting my camera away I heard a call of a Canyon Wren.
One of our target birds was the Kirtland's Warbler. Kirtland's Warbler, also known as the jack pine warbler, is named after Jared P. Kirtland, an Ohio doctor and amateur naturalist. Nearly extinct just 50 years ago, it is well on its way to recovery due to conservation efforts to restore at least 160 acres of dense young jack pine for its breeding habitat.
We went looking for Summer Tanagers a Oak Openings Preserve about 50km west of Magee Marsh. We did find the Tanagers with the male being the only completely red bird in North America.
