Spotted Owl - Wings On Wednesday

What started out to be a 'spur of the moment' get together with birders and friends Linda Rockwell and Donna Simonetti, this ended up to be one of my best birding experiences. The Little Toad Creek Inn & Tavern hosted the "Hummingbird Celebration" just north of Silver City, New Mexico. This drew together our common interest: birds. Speaker Joan Day-Martin gave a very nice presentation about hummingbird identification. Later that morning we went into the Gila National Forest and enjoyed a splendid afternoon hiking and taking photos of deer,flowers,mushrooms,beetles etc. On Sunday after breakfast we hiked onto a different trail and no words can explain the excitement of viewing this magnificent creature: the Spotted Owl! I have never EVER viewed or photographed an owl in the wild, so this was a big event for me. We all felt the mystical aura of this endangered Owl and were so happy he obliged us many happy and precious photos of him:)    

Spotted Owl - Gila National Forest - near Mimbres, New Mexico

                                             My short video of preening Spotted Owl

Donna Simonetti & son Juan

Linda Rockwell, Cynthia White, Donna Simonetti

Can one ever have enough cameras?  :)

Neon Skimmer - Wings on Wed.

Birds were scarce this week but did manage to find this beautiful Neon Skimmer 

Prescott, Az.

                   

Birds of Willow Lake-Wed. Wings

Yellow Warbler 

                                                                        Summer Tanager                 

                                   Double Crested Cormorant in treetop nest- Willow Lake

                                                               Great Blue Heron

So far, my outings at Willow Lake have been rewarding.  I have been able to photo (and hopefully correctly identify!) birds that occupy this area of Prescott during the summer months. Willow Lake has been severely depleted by the on-going drought and I do notice other birds such as Double Crested Cormorants and Great Blue Herons flying to other nearby lakes, fishing for food for their young and bringing it back to their nests at Willow Lake. The monsoon rains are forecast for this week and it will be a most welcome arrival for all :)
          

Orange Firecracker for Wed.Wings

   
                                                                      Rufous Hummingbird
                                                               Backyard Birding - Prescott, Az.