And now for something completely different

I recently took a trip to the Sonoran Desert in Arizona, which is pretty much the opposite of Manhattan - arid, intense sun, huge sky, open spaces, alien vegetation and unique wildlife.  Catalina State Park, 17 miles north of Tucson, is a great place to experience all of these things.  Below are a few of my favorite birds seen in the area.

Curve-Billed Thrasher: 



This bird has a stunning orange eye.



The Thrasher looks lovely posing with the Catalina Mountains in the background.



Cactus Wren:



I enjoyed many encounters with cactus wrens, and they were most identifiable by their vocalizations.



Their markings are really beautiful.



I was happy to learn the Cactus Wren is the state bird of Arizona.



Canyon Wren:



This was the first time I'd seen a Canyon Wren.  Like the Cactus Wren, this bird drew my attention with its song.



Hummingbirds were everywhere and they could be heard much easier than they could be seen.  I found this was true for almost all of the birds I saw.  Despite the sparse vegetation and bright sunlight, wildlife was surprisingly tricky to see.



Greater Roadrunner:



Just as I was complaining that I hadn't seen one, a Roadrunner came walking by.



To me, they look prehistoric.



The Roadrunner is a really colorful bird, especially its rainbow tail.  My companion found a tail feather on one of the hiking trails.  It's brown with an emerald green sheen and can be seen below with a pigeon tail feather for reference.



A birding trip would not be complete without a Red-Tailed hawk, and this one obliged by flying close overhead.





I was struck by the amount of color on this hawk and the barring pattern across the body.  Below is a photo of Christo for comparison.  He has a lot more white on him, while the desert hawk shows much more brown.



You can see more Arizona birds on my Flickr page.