South of Yuma
1 Dec
2005
by
Henry Detwiler
Lauri & Sylvia Hillberg joined me south of town for a morning trip to
look at our local grassland birds and take some photos.
48
species -- bird list is at the bottom of the page
Click on
thumbnail pictures for full-sized photos. 
| I met Lauri and Sylvia at their airport, and then we
cruised down Ave A. to our first birdy stop. Pat's yard had
White-crowned Sparrows and Abert's Towhees among others, but nothing
out of the ordinary. |
Lauri south of Yuma
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Loggerhead Shrike - Sony DSC
The shot above was
through my 65mm Swarovski; the shot to the right was through Lauri's
82mm Kowa, both shot with my Sony.
|
Past Co. 18th the road turns to gravel, and we got out to look at a
Loggerhead Shrike. Since it continued to pose, we both set up
our scopes, and commenced to take some digiscoped shots. I was
trying out a new Sony DSC-W7 point & shoot digital camera; Lauri had
his trusty Canon A95.
Loggerhead Shrike - Sony DSC |
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Once we passed Co. 19th Street we started seeing more raptors and
"shorebirds". Of course there was no shoreline, but several
hundred Long-billed Curlews were working a huge round alfalfa field.
They especially liked following the irrigation sprinkler. Lauri
got some nice pics of them, but mine were all blurry. A great
treat for me was spotting a "flyover" Sandhill Crane! Several
Red-tailed Hawks, this Ferruginous Hawk, and this American Kestrel
were perched on top of the pivotal, circling sprinkler, so we snapped
away at those, too.
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Ferruginous Hawk, Yuma - Sony
DSC
During the course of the morning,
we tallied about 9 of these big,
beautiful hawks. |
American Kestrel, Yuma -
Sony DSC |
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Ferruginous Hawk, south of Yuma
Canon D10 |
Lauri digiscoping a curlew
The flying Ferruginous Hawk I took with my digital SLR and my 300mm Canon lens. That's a
shot you're not likely to get when digiscoping!
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Mountain Plovers south of
Yuma - Canon D10
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Mountain Plover along Ave B.
- Canon D10 |
On an alfalfa field that had just been grazed by sheep, we found
the largest flock of Mountain Plover I've ever seen in Arizona.
At least 300 of these crypticly marked guys were feasting
throughout the whole field. They were joined by Long-billed
Curlews, Horned Larks, American Pipits, and the odd Great Blue
Heron. As we headed north, two Common Ravens were
unexpected, but welcome, birds. |
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On 32nd Street, a
pair of Peregrine Falcons perched high in a Eucalyptus Trees--the
week before it had been a Merlin. Then
we went on to look for our wintering (4th season) Thick-billed
Kingbird. It was across the Yuma Main Drain in a huge cottonwood, flycatching from an exposed snag. |
Thick-billed Kingbird, Sony DSC
digiscoped photo
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Thick-billed Kingbird, Canon
D10
digital SLR photo |
It was so cooperative that I had time to shoot
some comparison shots with my Canon D10 and the Sony DSC W-7.
Above with the Sony; to the left with my Canon. All too soon
the morning was done, and I left Lauri & Sylvia back at their
motel. It had been another GREAT morning of Yuma birding!
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