Southeast Arizona – Complete!

My Vermont Bird Tours trip to Southeast Arizona ended at sunset Sunday with Blue-gray Gnatcatchers mobbing and swooping on Mexican Jays perched high on Octotillos. Rufous-winged Sparrows sang their final serenades of the day. As the sun dropped behind distant peaks, Lesser Nighthawks began to fly and feed overhead. So we left the quiet desert for a late supper and some overdue sleep.

I’ll now leave Arizona. And I’ll leave you with a few more bird images from this amazing trip, highlights from which are too numerous to mention, but included five encounters with Elegant Trogon (yeah, that photo is from an earlier AZ trip), four species of Tanager (including Flame-colored Tanager), a dozen hummingbird species, and rarities ranging from Tropical Kingbird to Crissal Thrasher to Olive Warbler. I’ll soon post a complete update, including a new species list for my trip. For now, here below is a White-winged Dove (common on this trip but cool nonetheless), Spotted Owl and Hermit Warbler. I’m heading home, not sure in which direction. But I think I’ll wander over to Black Kettle National Grasslands in western Oklahoma to see what’s flying there. I’m about to shift into HPIM (High-Powered Insect Mode).