July's Miscellaneous Collection of Photos
I’ve been saving these shots for a while now
A recent post featured Lesser Nighthawks in the air feeding on clouds of flying ants one morning. Here is what a Lesser Nighthawk usually does during the hot summer days in Tucson. These birds rest on the bare desert floor in whatever shade they can find. Their mottled brown plumage serves as camouflage. Sometimes they may choose to rest on a horizontal tree branch but I’ve seen more on the ground than on a tree.
Early one May morning I was on a birding trip at El Rio Preserve with Tucson Bird Alliance. Pointer Mountain, adjacent to the Preserve, provided a cliffside nesting area for a pair of Great Horned Owls. That morning two of the juvenile Owlets were outside of their nest, not yet flying.
A close-up gives a better look at the young birds. When Great Horned Owls nest in trees and the youngsters begin spending time outside of the nest, they are said to be “branching.” For little Owls in a cliffside nest, there are no branches and they can’t be branching so is the proper term “rocking”?
At an area golf course, an Ash-throated Flycatcher flew into a mesquite tree for a short rest. Ash-throated Flycatchers are summer visitors to much of the American West.
Duckweed can grow rapidly at Sweetwater Wetlands. This is a free-floating aquatic plant that is a food source for waterfowl. It provides an interesting surface for this American Coot to swim through.
This is not a rubber ducky. Ruddy Ducks are diving ducks. Built to be able to dive into water suddenly, they are also able to just submerge themselves slowly.
The Ruddy Duck finally popped up to the surface and kept on moving forward. It was now wearing a coat of duckweed.
One day in May a small flock of Snowy Egrets flew over Sweetwater Wetlands. Inflight, the Snowy Egrets had tucked their necks into a tight S-shape and their legs trailed straight behind them.
Snowy Egrets are beautiful to see in the water, but seeing a small flock of them in this desert environment was startling. This was probably a group of Snowy Egrets flying together at the end of their migration season.
When I pull up older images like these, it is nice to be able to remember everything about the moments when I captured the photo.