On my Arizona trip, in addition to birds, which were my official goal, I ran across quite a lot of other wildlife, and got pics when I could. This Black-tailed Rattlesnake gave me plenty of photo ops, as he was quite sure he didn't want me on "his" trail. I was hiking in South Fork of Cave Creek Canyon out of Portal, looking for nesting Elegant Trogons, and this snake rattled at me, crossed my trail, and curled up beside the trail and continued to rattle and stick out his tongue. Some of the pics show the rattles in motion, but I preferred this one in which we could see the rattles more clearly, as well as that forked tongue. I finally had to climb up over some rocks to get past this guy, and to get on to my birds. Most of my other wildlife sightings were more quiet and tame. 8/29/21 www.sparhawkphotography.com
One night we went out at dusk looking for Lesser Nighthawks flying over the water at this area outside of Portal, Arizona. When we arrived, I saw the beginnings of this beautiful sunset over the mountains. I stood on the bank above the pond, saw nighthawks and bats flying around us, and was awed by the colors in the monsoon skies. Every direction I looked was flooded with pink--it was a magical moment! 8/28/21 www.sparhawkphotography.com
I'm baaaccckk! Had a great 10 days of birding in southeast Arizona. Added 58 new species to my year list. This view was from the road between Portal and Paradise, Arizona, both very small "towns" in the Chiricahua Mountains near the New Mexico border. It was monsoon season, with more rain than usual, creating green hillsides and great cloudy skies. 8/27/21 www.sparhawkphotography.com
