Wingscapes took the “show on the road” to Arizona last week and attended the Verde Valley Birding & Nature Festival at the Dead Horse Ranch State Park in Cottonwood, Arizona. The weather was hot and dry, the people were warm and friendly, and the birding was superb.
While I escaped from the hottest parts of the days sheltered inside the main exhibition tent demonstrating the Wingscapes BirdCam to festival participants, the BirdCam was busily recording some of the feathered visitors to the feeders set-up along the trails near the festival site in the park.
The shelter of the spreading branches of the Cottonwood trees provides a natural oasis for the wildlife in the park so the feeders get a respectable share of the birds to be found in the area.
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(By the way, if you’ve ever wondered why they call it "Cottonwood," this shot of the seeds of the namesake trees caught up in the ground vegetation should provide the answer.)
Lark Sparrows and Lazuli Buntings were plentiful. Both spent considerable time on the ground picking through the seeds that had fallen from the feeders. The Lark Sparrows seemed to be far more tolerant of the hot sun, spending more time out in the open while the Lazuli Buntings kept in the shade as much as possible.
Another commonly seen bird, and one I did not expect, was the Cassin’s Finch. These finches were seen equally on the ground as well as at the feeder trays. The pale color of these birds was quite striking to all who were more familiar with their darker cousins found farther to the north. Of course, as with any ground-level placement of the BirdCam near a feeder, capturing images of seed-loving mammals, such as this Rock Squirrel in the picture, is always a possibility.
To get a wider variety of photos of local birds, a couple BirdCams were also loaned to birders living in the area.
As might be expected at many home-based birdfeeders, House Sparrows were quite common. However just like the Cassin’s Finches, the House Sparrows were considerably lighter in color than those seen farther north. Even their normal red showed more of a red-orange hue.
The local House Sparrows, however, showed no such lighter colors – they were as bold as would be found anywhere.
Being Arizona, there were of course hummingbirds.
Anna’s Hummingbirds are fairly easy to recognize by the bright, cherry-red faces of the males.
Black-chinned Hummingbirds were plentiful but a little more difficult to identify as their dark gorgets (throat patches of iridescent feathers) were much darker – as their name implies.
With all the great birds to be seen, who couldn’t have a good time? Many festival participants learned about the enjoyment that can be had with the BirdCam and some fine images were recorded with it. I even added a life bird – Common Black-hawk – to my own life list. How could anyone ask for more?
