Besides the Large Egrets and Herons...

...there were smaller birds to appreciate at El Rio

Sometimes it is nice to see a sharp close-up or portrait of a bird. Sometimes seeing it from a distance gives us a better sense of environment and place. Today’s post features some shots of birds that were at El Rio. While I was intent on photographing larger birds like the Egrets and Herons, these smaller, ‘normal’ sized birds grabbed my attention. The Yellow-rumped Warbler is here for the winter.

Across the water and in a dense patch of cattails, a Sparrow was hopping around. Sparrows are insect eaters but during the winter they will also eat mostly seeds. I had originally thought this bird was a Song Sparrow. I asked a friend who is a birding expert and he felt this was a Lincoln’s Sparrow. Some of these little brown birds are so hard for me and others to tell apart. For today’s post, I’ll just call it a nice looking sparrow.

It dropped to the ground and was searching around for food.

A male Vermilion Flycatcher perched on a distant dry snag. Even at a distance, the bright red color stands out. I’m not sure anyone can ever get tired of seeing these birds.

A few Killdeer flew around the dry lake bed before landing near the remaining water. One of the Killdeer walked along the edge of the water. An interesting fact about Killdeer is that it is called a “leap-frog migrant”? Why? Birdnote tells us.

There have been a pair of Belted Kingfishers at El Rio for the past month or so. Recently I shared photos of the female Belted Kingfisher with her rusty ‘belt’. The morning I took all of this post’s photos, only the male Belted Kingfisher appeared. He would perch somewhere around the lake, and then fly into the distance towards the Santa Cruz River before eventually returning to El Rio. You can clearly see his blue necklace and see that there is no rusty belt across his front like a female would have.

It’s as if he remembered there being a lot of water and many fishing opportunities but now was wondering where all the water disappeared to.

Even as the seasons change and now as the water at El Rio is receding, there are always different things to appreciate there.

In my recent “Tourist in Tucson” post, I shared a photo of the boy reading to the elephant painted on the wall of the old Epic Cafe.

While I couldn’t find anything about the origins of that mural, a reader in Tucson, Cate H. shared the missing background. The photo was a rendition of a beautiful photograph taken by Canadian photographer Gregory Colbert. You can see the photo and learn more about him at his website. Thanks Cate!