There is just something about capturing a bird in its environment. Especially if it’s one we hardly see very often.
When I moved to Arizona it was the first time I saw our beloved Quail.
The babies are always a treat to see. When they are first born they are as big as a mouse and leave the nest quickly. I have heard as many as 24 eggs to as little as 2 or 3 in a nest. Their nest can end up anywhere. We had some desert dirt in a plastic tub on the side of our house and there they were. A nest of eight.
After they hatched they were in our back yard for a day and then they left us.
Later we saw them up on our wall. Dad was watching over.
The babies are hard to capture as they scurry quickly.
Another Southwest bird hard to capture is the Roadrunner. They dart from here to there in no time!
We have had our share of Hawks in both our yards.
In Arizona…
And in Pennsylvania…
However my most favorite bird is our Arizona Backyard Owls. To be specific… our Great Horned Owls!
These owls are quite large about 18″ – 20″ and have 3-5 ft. Wingspan. They hoot back and forth to each other at night. In the evening is when we see them the most …while we sit outside on our back patio.
This last photo gives me a chuckle…
Seeing the Hummingbird above the owl! Hilarious!
When we return to Pennsylvania it’s always a pleasure to see the Robin. We don’t have them in the desert. Along with the Grosbeaks, Bluejays, purple martins and woodpeckers.
We do share Goldfinches, sparrows, doves, hummingbirds and cardinals in both states.
With our travels we see many types of birds.
White Crested Black Polish Chicken
We saw these beautiful swans behind the Queen of England’s Palace!
Along with this Herron.
When in Hawaii we saw the Red Crested Cardinal.
Common Loons of Washington Island 
Gray Crowned Crane
But when we are by the water we always love to see…
Seagulls:
Ducks:
Pelicans:
No matter where we are… we will always be enamored by our Feathered Friends.
Linking up with Ingrid of Live Laugh RV for Wandering Wednesday and the theme is Birds. Please click on the links to see her beautiful photography of the Birds she has seen.
Until Next Time ~Nancy
Must be wonderful to have so many feathered friends. 🙂
We get along quite well! Except that BlueJay is a Squawky little guy!!
😀
I just love the AZ Gambels Quail. When we would camp at Cave Creek Reg Park, I enjoyed feeding them and watching them scurry all over the place. Your image of the hawk on the block wall and then the one in PA on the ground are exceptionally stunning. Thanks for sharing and joining in!
Thanks for reading! I tried to fit this in while cutting the grass out here in Pa.
I will be reading your post very soon! After I do the weed whacking! Lol!
Wow you must be quick with the camera to get such amazing photos!
I run for my camera when I see birds! Some are taken with my cell phone but my best ones are with the zoom lens on my LUMIX !
Thanks so much for the Bird Love! 🦅
My best friend has a doctorate in biology with a concentration in birds so I spend a lot of time looking at birds, but never seem to get a good photo of them:(
It’s the zoom lens that helps!
That would!
I love all these! Owls are always a favorite, as are the quail. They are just too cute.
Mary… I am so appreciative of your compliment.
We enjoy birds and I pretty much have my camera on the kitchen counter for all the interesting birds that come into our yard. The quail and the owls are really a delight to see!
Nancy, I love birds and have always had feeders for them. No matter where we live I purchase a book on birds of that area and try to identify each one.
I loved living in the high mountain dessert of New Mexico and one of my favorites at the feeders, included the black headed grosbeaks. I mis-identified them at first as an oriole, which we did not have.
I missed the beautiful red cardinals when living in New Mexico as they do not cross the imaginary line on the Western side of Kansas…(straight up and down). We had what was called the Pyrrhuloxia or dessert cardinal but they were not bright red…very dull brownish…. in fact. My son, who loves them too, lived in Colorado and we threatened to capture a pair of red cardinals and introduce them to that part of the U.S. (jokingly of course)
However, the mountain bluebird (gorgeous turquoise) and the stellar jays made up for the fact that we did not have blue jays either. There are scrub jays and mountain jays and pinion gray jays…but the closest to a blue jay was the stellar jay with it’s black hooded head and blue body.
I could go on for hours talking about birds but I will cut this short for now.
Beautiful pictures.
We have a lot in common. 🙂
We sure do! We too have bird books at each of our homes! There are so many that need identifying.
Thank you so much for dropping by and letting me know how much you enjoy birds as much as I!
We so love our birds, real or otherwise. I enjoy bird watching wherever I am. I adore the pics. Younhave captured them well.
Thanks so much! I’m glad you got to see this post!
You are famous for your multiple orioles at your feeder! I have yet to take a photo of one of those!
Beautiful bird gallery, Nancy! Thank you so much for introducing your feathered friends. Love them! 🙂 <3
They are quite happy to meet you as well! 😊
Thank you for stopping by and enjoying our birds!
Fabulous photos Nancy 🙂
Thank you kindly Miss Clare!
Those are great photos! Keep up the good work!
Thank you so much!
<3, thank you Nancy. x
I am so glad you enjoyed!!
I am so glad you enjoyed!
Wow! So many excellent photos! What lens do you use? I have a couple of blue birds in my back yard and I haven’t been able to catch a decent photo of them yet! Maybe I need a longer lens so I can stay further back – and watch and wait? What’s your secret? Really nice job!
The zoom lens is what works best for most of these photos!
Some were taken with my cell phone and cropped in. But best bird photography is taken with a zoom lens. I enjoy my LUMIX!
And thank you for enjoying my photos!!
Nancy, what gorgeous bird captures. I love to watch birds. We have a bald eagle nest a five minute walk from our house. I loved every photo and I can’t choose a favorite. Thanks for sharing!
Birds just love to tease me… please take our picture while we fly all around. But I do enjoy capturing their every move!
Thanks so much for stopping by and enjoying sooooo many pictures of BIRDS! 😊
What a wonderful collection of bird photos! I love those a quail chicks!
Aren’t they the cutest!!
Thanks for stopping by. I had a heck of a time narrowing my pictures down for this post!