Dave and I went to Boyce Thompson Arboretum on May 19, 2020. We delivered our ‘Birds of Boyce Thompson Arboretum’ posters to the gift shop. They liked them, and were confident they would sell them – all money going as a donation to the arboretum. We then spent the morning at the arboretum. We left home at around 8:00 AM, got there at about 9:00 AM, and left at lunch time. We got take-out at Los Hermanos, and ate at a little park in Superior.
It was a great time to be at BTA. There were tons of birds! Chats, Orioles, Warblers, Tanagers, etc. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to get photographs of all the birds we saw. We focused on the Bell’s Vireo. It’s relatively common at BTA, but neither of us had a photo for the poster. There were a lot of Bell’s there – we could hear them all over. The problem with the Bell’s is that, even though it’s common, it is difficult to photograph. It moves a lot, and rarely shows itself unobstructed. However, we were able to get some fleeting photographs. Then another photographer we ran into said he saw an active nest. He didn’t know what the species was, but we thought it was probably a Bell’s nest, and we were right. This makes photography easier because the parents keep coming back to the same spot to feed the chicks. We got quite a few photos, being careful not to disturb the nesting activity.
We ran into a 5′ long Bullsnake (aka Gopher Snake) on one of the trails.
It would have been nice to get some shots of Orioles, Chats, Tanagers and Grosbeaks, but it was approaching lunch time, we were hungry, and it was getting hot. So we decided to be content with what we had, after spending most of our time on the Bell’s Vireo.
2 Comments
Were you the brave person who touched the snake? I can’t remember if you were the kid who like snakes and snails and puppy dog tails? The poster is amazing–so many species–I would like to see it in real life!
No, I didn’t touch the tail, but I was ready to get the photo of its reaction. I remember when we were kids we used to pick up garter snakes by the tail and swing them around, but they weren’t 5′ long! Glad you like the poster.