Archives

Drama at the Bird Feeding Station

As the quail drank, the smaller birds all hit the bushes in a fast panic! In a short moment only one juvenile (We call them teenagers.) Scaled Quail was left at the pond and in the blink of an [...]

Spring Bird Migration in Portal, Arizona

The most common birds at our Best 1 hummingbird feeders have been the Broad-tailed and the Black-throated Hummingbirds. All three of our orioles have be into the saucer oriole feeder and [...]

Northern Flickers Drum a Fine Tune

The Northern Flicker is one of the few North American woodpeckers that migrates. Flickers in the northern parts of their range move south for the [...]

Moving Water Brings in Migrant Warblers in Portal, Arizona

The fall warbler migration is in full swing now, here in southeastern Arizona. [...]

Cooper’s Hawk – One Hot Bird

We have a young Cooper’s Hawk that has decided that our four tiered bird pond is a great place to soak it’s feet on a hot day. It comes in and just stands in the water next to the water fall so that it gets a little splash, but not [...]

Black-headed Grosbeak: Did You Know?

Black-headed Grosbeak: Did You Know? The Black-headed Grosbeak may have the original house with air [...]

Lucy’s Warblers-Darlings of the Backyard

For the past couple of weeks we have been entertained by a pair of Lucy’s Warblers while we sit with our coffee mugs and watch the birds coming in to our backyard bird habitat.  These birds do not come in to the birdseed we put out for the birds.  However, the sound of flowing water [...]

Mockingbirds: Cool Facts

We use our recycled oriole feeder to feed raisins to the mockingbirds and birds have taken mealworms from other cups in our recycled oriole feeder. It is always a thrill to see the flash of white in their wings as they approach the [...]

Summer: A Prosperous Time for Birds?

Summer might be considered the most “prosperous” time of year for birds.  Most raise their families during this time of year because of the abundance of insects and berries to feed the young and themselves and the leafy shelter of trees, shrubs and vines is much more luxuriant during the summer than any other time [...]

Western Tanagers Arrive in Portal, Arizona

Yesterday the Western Tanagers returned to Portal, Arizona.  A beautiful male came in to bathe and drink from our four tiered bird pond.  He was later joined by two more brilliant male birds and a female.

We always enjoy these colorful birds and we are sometimes asked by our customers how to attract tanagers to their [...]

Spring in Portal, Arizona

We have been commenting on the fact that the bird migration is running weeks early this year with many bird species back in Portal almost a month early.  Now we know for sure that spring is here.

A male Scott’s Oriole is in full song from the top of the neighbor’s Yucca.
The baby Red-eared Sliders (a [...]

Early Bird Migration–Its Still Happening

This morning we had our first Common Yellowthroat of the season at our four tiered bird pond setup.  May 1st is the traditional return time for this species, so, like several other species this year, he was very early (over a month).  Common Yellowthroats are rare here on the desert, however we do seem to [...]

Short Birding Day

We were up with the sun.  OK, the sun doesn’t rise all that early this time of year, but our coffee mugs were full and the blinds were open before the sun came up so we should get some credit for that.

We started our day looking out the sliding glass door, looking at our bird feeders [...]