Yuma Area

After adding a handful of life birds walking around the cemetery in Phoenix, I felt satisfied being able to spend time devoted to birding and over the next couple of days devoted most time to family. With three full days around the Yuma area (mid-day on the 24th through mid-day on the 27th) it gave me an opportunity to simply enjoy the local birds. We took daily walks as a family, we visited sand dunes and even completed a little project. Here are a handful of photos of the local birds seen while walking around the Fortuna Foothills area. I added Common-Ground Dove to my life list, but the birds were not photogenic.

  

(Top to Bottom & Left to Right) Costa's Hummingbird, Verdin, Cactus Wren, and Gila Woodpecker

  

The birds pictured above were all life-birds from this trip.  Other birds from that area are the same species that I see more regularly around Kansas City.  Surprisingly, many of these species were very tolerant of people walking right next to them!

  

(Top to Bottom & Left to Right) Loggerhead Shrike, Red-Tailed Hawk (Likely Western subspecies), with female and male American Kestrels

  

After a mid-afternoon Christmas nap and with nothing else planned I took off to bird away from town. I had read online ahead of time and tried to figure where to look around Yuma but eventually, I gave up and simply reverted to BirdsEye and eBird for identifying potential life birds in the area. The Mountain Plover was the second new species from my time in the Yuma area.

After seeing distant views of a couple Mountain Plovers I drove to where they were headed and patiently waited for them to walk right up!

In my preparation for birding this area, almost all materials suggested birding the Salton Sea. We made a quick stop with the entire family (now up to 7 in the van) in tow on our way west.  Those birds will be the next post!