Valley of the Sun 2014: Spring Romance, bird style......

It is only January but already you can see bird behaviour that is indicative of breeding season that appears to be well under way in the Valley of the Sun. With Dana still on the DL, physical effort this past week has been limited to birding. I have been out almost everyday this week. Dana came with me two of those days. Without being overly dramatic, WOW!!! - What a week!!!!

We've been on quite a streak. This week's rare bird find is the Black-and-White Warbler. This bird is very rare here in the Valley of The Sun - at any time. We had heard that it was around the Gilbert Water Ranch and that it had been spotted a few times in the past 3 weeks. Every time we go there we look for it. On Tuesday I went the GWR by myself. After birding for about 2 hours I had stepped into the woods for a "natural break", as cyclists call it, when I spotted the bird. What good fortune. But wait, there's more. There was not one, but two B&W Warblers, one female and one male. Here is a photo of the female.

Black-and-White Warbler at the Gilbert Water Ranch

Dana, and others I am sure, wonder why I take more pictures of Herons when I already have some beautiful photos of these majestic birds. The reason is that bird behaviour is complex and you never really get the same photo. I was at GWR Friday morning with Nancy and Keith. We spotted these 2 Heron exhibiting interesting behaviour. I took a couple of shots and moved on. It was not until I downloaded the photo at home that I realized that I had captured what appears to be Great Blue heron courting behaviour. The quality of the photo, in my view, is pretty good.

Great Blue Heron Love at the Gilbert Water Ranch

As far as "cute factor", this one doesn't get any better. Today we were at one of the parks on the Salt River. We have birded at this location in past years but this was our first visit this year. What a fantastic outing! Walking through the Mesquite trees Dana spotted what she assumed were a pair of Hummingbirds tending a nest. I arrived at the spot a few minutes later and I captured a photo of the female on the nest. Another Hummingbird was close by, and we think that a third hummer was assisting in the construction of the nest. It was too much to take in. I got as many photos as I could get without disturbing the birds. What I did get I sent to our friends who are bird experts for assistance with the identification. We got confirmation that the species was Anna's however some of the behaviour we observed is still being interpreted. There are aspects of the behaviour that are puzzling.