Madera Canyon

Aside from the Santa Rita Lodge there are more Lodge on the road up the Canyon. The next lodge had the nest of a Magnificent Hummingbird in a tree above the road. Quite a nice spot for nest photography.

Our next stop was again a the Red-breasted Sapsucker (Roodborstsapspecht), it was still hugging the same tree. Although a nearby Acorn Woodpecker was trying to chase him away. Sometimes that worked, which allowed me to make another nice shot on a different tree. Still the same bird though.

After our visit to the sapsucker, we did walk a bit in the area. This gave me another shot at the Bridled Titmouse (Harlekijnmees).

In the Canyon near the creek our guide heard a Painted Whitestart (Roodbuikzanger). Finding it was not hard for her, but making a picture was a lot harder for me. After following the bird for a while, it did work out quite nicely.

Also flying from tree to tree was a Hutton’s Vireo. Like all Vireo, they have a tendency not to sit still, and to stay high in the trees. Later in the day, I found a more cooperative vireo.

While we had our lunch, a group of Mexican Jays was hoping to get some leftovers. This gave me a nice opportunity for a portrait shot.

Further down the canyon we went looking for more species. First new species for me was the Canyon Towhee (Bruine towie). It was fairly far away in the shade unfortunately.

The guide knew about Black-capped Gnatcatchers (Zwartkapmuggenvanger), and she did find them too. It helps so much when you look for the small birds if you can find them by voice. This is actually a fairly rare bird, that only occurs in the southernmost parts of Arizona.

This Hermit Thrush (Heremietlijster) picture looks a bit like an old painting of a Saint. All the light behind the bird makes it quite special.

Flycatchers come in many flavors, the flavor we found was Hammond’s Flycatcher (Sparrenfeetiran). One of the small species that looks like all the other small flycathers.

Last bird for the day was Hutton’s Vireo (Huttons vireo). This time the vireo posed just long enough for a picture.