A female Northern Harrier soars over the Sonoma Coast State Beach north of San Francisco.
A Wood Pigeon explores the grounds of Frederick the Great’s Sanssouci in Potsdam, Germany.
A Screech Owl soaks up the sun in Arizona’s Ramsey Canyon Preserve.
A Painted Redstart gathers lunch in Arizona’s Ramsey Canyon Preserve.
The Great Tit, like this one in Hamburg, reminded me just how beautiful some of the most common birds are. Like the Black-capped Chickadee back home, this bird is ubiquitous and charming.
A Eurasian Coot shows off his lobed toes at the Aussenalster in Hamburg.
A Round-tailed Ground Squirrel outside his hole at the Sweetwater Wetlands Park in Tucson.
On a cliff overlooking Sonoma Coast State Beach, some Herring Gulls watch while others soar overhead.
With its long tail, round body, and small facial features, the Long-tailed Tit looks like a cotton ball on a stick. This one, along with several others, was hopping around a bush in Hamburg.
A male Northern Elephant Seal stands guard over his lady friends in Big Sur.
At the Martin Park Nature Center in Oklahoma City, a stream has exposed cross sections of “reduction spheres” in the red sandstone. The red color comes from oxidized iron (like rust), and the white patches are supposedly due to the reduction of iron from organic matter originally at the sphere’s center. But, if this is a diffusive process, why is the boundary between white and red so sharp? I am missing something.
A Gila Woodpecker looking for food at the Gene C. Reid Park in Tucson.
A Hooded Crow parades around the grounds of Sanssouci in Potsdam, Germany.
A Burrowing Owl scans his surroundings at Cesar Chavez Park in Berkeley.
A very fat Greylag Goose at the Gene C. Reid Park in Tucson.
A Black-crowned Night-Heron at the Gene C. Reid Park in Tucson.
Showing off his white nape plume.
A Gambe’s Quail wanders past my room at the JW Marriott Starr Pass in Tucson.
A Black-headed Grosbeak at the Tucson Mountain Park.
A White-winged Dove in Sweetwater Wetlands Park in Tucson.
A Broad-billed Hummingbird hovers above a feeder in Paton’s backyard near the Patagonia-Sonoita Creek Preserve.
The smaller relative of the goldfinches back home, the Lesser Goldfinch gives the Tucson Mountain Park a dash of yellow.
A House Finch feasts on flowers in the Tucson Mountain Park.
A Ring-necked Duck at the Gene C. Reid Park in Tucson.
A Curve-billed Thrasher contemplates going tubing at the JW Marriott Starr Pass Resort in Tucson.
The Gila Woodpeckers, like this one photographed at dusk, build their homes inside the Saguaro Cacti.
Tucson Mountain Park is covered with these cacti.
An older Saguaro Cactus has grown three arms.
And, when a Saguaro Cactus dies, it leaves behind its skeleton.
A Marsh wren hunts for insects among the reeds at Bosque del Apache.
The Northern Shovelers are easy to find in Bosque del Apache, but they are difficult to photograph because they keep a good distance from humans.
A Brown creeper explores a tree at the Chestnut Hill Reservoir.
The Snow Geese prepare for their morning flight at Bosque del Apache.
Time to graze.
