Red Mountain through the reeds

End of a long, satisfying day.

Black Phoebe

Goldfinches

Lawrence's on the feeder and a Lesser on the branch.

Lawrence's Goldfinch

We saw a bunch of these at a feeder along the Salt river.

Red-naped Sapsucker

Pretty, and again the picture doesn't do justice to that red.

Bluebird

Something different

I missed taking pictures of javalinas, ground squirrels, rabbits and some other critters, but this lizard held still for me.

Vermillion Flycatcher

This guy put on quite a show for us, doing all sorts of displays and zooming from tree to tree. This picture doesn't do his colors justice, but short of IMAX, I don't know what would. Easily the brightest star of our trip.

Bald Eagle

This was just too far to get a good shot, but there's an eagle on that dead tree.

Phainopepla

A female. It's a cool bird, with a neat little flair of feathers on the head. The male is black and has red eyes that really glow in the right light.

Another hawk, another cactus

Redtail on sentry duty.

Hawk on a Saguaro

Too far away and too shadowed to be a clear bird picture, so I played with the shot...

The fountain in the middle of the lake kicked off at 9:00. It goes up about 500 feet, so it's quite a sight.

Buffleheads

This one was shot with the lens all the way out, so it's not very sharp. The ones on the left are males, the right a female. Quite a contrast!

Meadowlark

Scaup

A crop of coots...

We went on an all-day birding trip along the Verde river. The first pictures are from the lake in Fountain Hills.

Gila Woodpecker

The Gila has a brown body and speckled wings.

Ladderback Woodpecker

The Ladderback has distinct white bars across the wings.

Egrets, I have a few...

Great Egrets and Neotropic Cormorants...

Mallard

Check out those tail feathers!

Black-necked Stilt

Long-billed Dowitcher behind...

American Avocet

Love that upturned bill...

Great Blue Heron, Great Egret

Big birds. A bunch of both hang around the Water Ranch.

Lovebirds checking a Saguaro

Roomy, has a nice view, maybe just what we're looking for. What's the rent? That much, huh? In this market?!

(Peach-faced Lovebirds. Feral birds that are doing okay around Phoenix.)

Ring-necked Duck

Another picture from the Water Ranch.