Today when walking Kino I heard two Bell's Vireo's, one of which was in a resident's yard. "Lucky Duck!" I thought envying the resident on their nice yard bird. I did feel lucky the night before watching 3 fledgling Cooper's Hawks in this same area. After returning our friend Tonya and I went to the cattail pond, which was pretty active. The first bird was a flushed juvenile Cooper's Hawk in the small mesquite in front of us. We delighted in our sighting. Two more steps and another juvenile flushed from the same tree, then another. Two Cooper's Hawk nests within a small area produced 3 healthy juveniles each. Wow! Here are their individual pics!
In the short time we were there we had 24 species, including;
Yellow Warlber, Lucy's Warbler, Bell's Vireo, Great Egret, Northern Mockingbird, Coopers Hawk, Harris's Hawk, Turkey Vulture, Broad-billed Hummingbird, Anna's Hummingbird, Gila Woodpecker, Gambel's Quail, Mourning Dove, White-winged Dove, Purple Martin, Brown-crested Flycatcher, Ash-thoated Flycatcher, Cassin's Kingbird, Bullock's Oriole, Lesser Goldfinch, Mallard, House Sparrow,Cactus Wren, and Verdin.
Later we sat on the porch watching a rain shower and checking yard birds. Verdins hopped about the mesquites, and a Great-tailed Grackle gave out high-pitched calls which could have come from dinosaur era. One of our neighbor's trees drapes over our yard and provides great cover for birds. When I saw something hopping around in the foliage I figured Verdin or House Sparrow since they had been using it all day. As it hopped to the outer edge I zoomed in on the familiar face of a silent Bell's Vireo, a first for this year! These birds are typically heard before seen 99 percent of the time so it must have wanted to surprise us. I was thankful for such a variety of neighbors visiting our small patch of heaven.
Thank you for appreciating our natural wildlife!
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