Wildlife Photos over the Winter Holidays 2011

Time for a new post! This post contains various wildlife photos I took over the winter holidays in 2011. Mary Ann and I went to Rio Salado in Phoenix on 11/25. We had a good time, but we didn’t see anything remarkable. I posted some pictures anyway. One thing that stood out about the Rio Salado Riparian area is the constant noise from planes taking off and landing at the nearby Sky Harbor airport.

The other bird photos are from the Riparian Preserve at Water Ranch (RPWR) in Gilbert. I got to try out my Christmas present, which is a dual ‘harness’ that lets me carry my camera and binoculars without hanging them around my neck (maybe I’ll post a picture of it later).

The Blue Herons are very common at RPWR, but this is the first time I’ve seen one catching a fish. I watched (and photographed) as he caught and ate the fish. The Yellow Rumped Warblers are also very common, but I liked this shot. I think my favorite shot of all is the Vermillion Flycatcher. What was unusual about the Black Phoebe was how close he was to me when he roosted and let me take a close up picture.

Mary Ann and I went to South mountain on 12/29. We drove to the trail head at Bueno Vista, and hiked the National trail east. It was a beautiful day and we had a good time. There were no birds (as expected for that location at that time of day). The butterfly and squirrel pictures aren’t great, but it was fun to identify the species.

Here are the photos (click photo to see larger version; use arrows to navigate the photos; click the enlarged photo to get back to here):

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