I know a few songbirds. A verdin’s call, its bright yellow head, chestnut-colored shoulder patch and spherical nest with an entry point near the bottom are the features helping me to identify this bird. It often flies around quickly and I see it many times upside-down as it eats insects and seeds.
Recently I was at Tucson’s El Rio Preserve. I saw what looked like a nest and thought I heard a verdin call. Hoping I was correct, I knew with some patience I would eventually locate the bird.
As you can see in the photo below, the nest was well hidden in the sweet acacia shrub.
Nest right there!
I moved a distance away from the nest and waited. Another birder happened to walk by and wondered what I was waiting for. As we talked the bird flew to the nest and darted inside. I caught a photo while it sat on the branch before leaving the nest.
Verdin about to leave the nest.
Of course, I had to try my sketching and watercolor painting ability with this little bird… why not ? … here it is:
I love this frog! Will I kiss the frog, no … but it got me thinking ….
An American bullfrog
Here’s this frog in the middle of a parking lot. A distance from where I believe it should be! I would love to know where it is going. I will never know. Unfortunately I left the frog for a couple of minutes … plenty of time, obviously, for it to go its own way. Darn! I even looked for it. No success!
I love healthy wildlife. Wildlife is to be wild. This means the animal survives on its own without mankind sheltering or feeding it. Healthy wildlife will move and take care, ignoring mankind … and we get to enjoy wildlife at a distance. Those constructed wildlife bridges have been very helpful for wildlife to get across roads, for example.
I do feed birds at my feeders. Seed is out during the winter and when the birds migrate. Both are times when the birds can use the extra nutrition. Just as important is when people turn off their outdoor lights during bird migration time. I love seeing humans take action and care about a life, even a bird’s life!
I love humankind when kindness is actually in action. I believe people who care for wildlife care for humans too. Humans are not wild animals. They need shelter and food. With kindness we can help those in need. There are local agencies available to help those in need.Let’s be sure people who are in need do know what help is available. Sometimes it simply a kind, helping hand or providing guidance to an available agency. Services are available for veterans, youth, homeless and many needs … let’s connect people with what they need, just as we do when protecting wildlife!
There were two roadrunners running across my trail, but one seemed to have taken off and the other stayed with me. For a split second ….
Here one second, gone the next …
Actually it came running towards me! What!?!
Roadrunner running towards me…
I thought it strange for it to be heading right at me … then past me. My finger clicked away on my camera to capture the action. A 100-400 mm camera lens though was a disadvantage with this close-encounter.
Bird on a mission!
The Pima tribe believe it is a sign of good luck to see a roadrunner. Good to know. I always want to see the bird’s X-shaped footprints. But once again the ground did not capture the foot’s imprint. Pueblo tribes consider the footprint sacred symbols. The X-shape footprint hides the direction the bird is moving and thus confuses evil spirits. The next second I knew where this bird was heading …
into the tree….
The bird flew into a nearby tree. Rarely do I see Greater roadrunners, their official name, in a tree. So I decided to spend some time with the bird. It was making a sound similar to drumming on wood. I thought it was pecking into the tree, but it was not. All sound was coming from its vocal cords.
Bird is not making this photo easy.
The bird climbed higher into the tree. Photographing it was a challenge so I slowly walked around the tree. My goal was to capture a photo of the bird with less tree branches in the way. Slowly I stepped and clicked away, until I finally had some decent photos.
Thank you for the pose!
Jumps around for a different pose, thank you!
With tail and head almost parallel to the ground, the roadrunner was out of the tree and running to an open area. I am not sure if it caught up with the other roadrunner it was with earlier. They are usually solitary birds, but who knows?
And it is off to somewhere…
In our backyard, a roadrunner can often be seen running through. Our hope is it enjoys eating lizards and snakes it may find there. While doing some research for this post, I learned a baby roadrunner is an “alleywalker”. A flock of roadrunners, a “marathon” or “race”. Very interesting!
I’m having difficulty deciding where I want to put my art energies. Should I spend more time sketching and using an ink pen? Or should I watercolor paint with an aqua brush or regular paint brushes?
Most days I take a walk outdoors. On this day I noticed a horse being readied by a man for a trail ride. There is not usually a horse in our neighborhood, so I took a photo of it. I continued my walk and passed a sculpture of a horse. That set my decision to sketch and paint horses today!And so I did, as you will soon see.
I also decided my real art interest is simply taking on a challenge … on this day horses. I tell myself also: with each sketch I learn something new … and that’s a good thing! Some of my best work is yet to come? Maybe so, but only if I keep at it all!
Ready for a trail ride.
Walk past this sculpture often; time to sketch and paint it!
I am amazed for a trip, not being a birding trip, I saw 61 different species of birds while visiting Argentina! No surprise then for 37 bird species to be new ones for my life list of birds! Yes!
Here are some of the birds I saw. The Patagonian mockingbird reminded me of mockingbirds at my home. They are constantly calling and changing their calls.
Patagonian mockingbird
An easy gull to identify:
Brown-hooded gull
Shovelers have a distinct bill. I just needed to learn the one I saw is a red shoveler:
Red shoveler
Arriving at a lagoon, I saw this swan and immediately knew it was a new species for me!
Coscoroba swan, the smallest of swan species
I loved looking at this bird’s eye:
Spectacled tyrant
This bird I almost didn’t capture with my camera and knew it would be a new species for me:
Look closely in center for tufted tit-tyrant
I’ve seen ibises, but here was a black-faced ibis:
Black-faced ibis
There were many other birds I photographed; however, I would have loved my larger zoom lens to truly have better photos. Yet, it was not birding trip so I think my smaller zoom did okay! A great trip with my fellow travelers sharing in the joy of seeing birds as we learned about each country we visited. What fun each day! If you missed the birds I saw in Chile, then click here.
The next day we drove to Iguazú National Park to see the falls from the Argentinian side. Tourists are efficiently moved from one station to another on a single gauge railroad train. We hopped out to walk the Superior Trail. Later I walked the Inferior Trail while others took the boat ride into the mist of the falls.
There are 275 waterfalls within Iguazú Falls.A small part of Iguazú Falls with rainbow!Boat ride to the fallsIn the mist!
Our early arrival at the park allowed us easy viewing of the falls. In the area were coatis that look like cute animals, but they are not! These animals jumped on bags and tables wherever they smelled a snack or saw food! Warning signs were posted. These animals really wrecked a family’s picnic lunch!
Coatis… watch out!
I saw an unusual reptile which I first thought was a Gila monster. It was not. A black-and-white tegu just happened to be at the side of the trail:
Tegu
I wish everyone a happy new year as I return to my usual twice a week blog posts and enjoy time at home! May 2026 see you with good health and happiness! Namaste!
We left Torres del Paine National Park, Chile to drive to El Calafate, Argentina, but first I must share a photo of the view we saw when leaving the park!
Waving goodbye to park and rainbow!
It was a beautiful end to our park visit! We had quick border crossings at Chile and then Argentina and arrived along the bank of Argentina Lake at the town of Calafate. So, 12 years ago there was a population of about 5 thousand people. Now, 30 thousand! The town thrives on tourism! It looked so different to me since my last visit!
Our group visited a local estancia/Patagonian ranch to learn about the gaucho lifestyle. Our host talked of his family’s history on this ranch where he grew up, demonstrated the sheep herding routine with his dog and hand-shearing of sheep. While this happened, the BBQ fire was cooking the lamb we would eat a couple of hours later.
As he talked, he drank mate, from a gourd with a filtered, metal straw. Mate contains antioxidants and is a social ritual in this country.Lamb BBQ cookingLamb with vegetables served at our lunch at the ranch.We learned and tried to throw the bola. It is a weapon to entangle the legs of the animal you need to get. Quite a challenge throwing the bola with any accuracy and distance.At the ranch sheep area.
Back at Calafate, a couple of my fellow travelers joined me on a birding hike. The wind was constantly blowing so it was impossible to use Merlin ID for sound recordings. Fortunately I had my camera to photograph many. Of the 22 birds species we saw at Laguna Nimez Reserve, 11 were new birds for my life list. I’ll have a blog posts simply on birds another time.
Entrance to trail. A NGO has helped protect this lake frontage from wild dogs for the last 12 years. As we looked beyond the fencing, 2 dogs were wanting to get at the birds within.Important protecting this area for birds!
Chile is a new country for me to visit! Argentina is smack-dab right next door to Chile, just look at the map below:
Argentina hugs Chile, or is the other way around!?!
My last adventure to this area of the world was a hiking trip in Argentina where I fell in love with the mountains near El Chalten. This trip I’ll be in the Andes again with an opportunity to visit more of the area: Easter Island, Chiloé Island, Torres del Paine and Iguassu (Iguazu) Falls from the Brazilian and Argentinian sides. When I was in Buenos Aires, so many years ago, Pope Francis was selected Pope … and the people of his church celebrated here! I also remember seeing tango dancing and on this trip I may even get a tango lesson!
Plenty of history to be learned, wildlife to view, UNESCO sites to visit, hikes to enjoy, wines, craft beer and food to taste, local and indigenous people to meet, and new birds for me to discover! Now for the adventure to begin!
I went for a walk to bird watch, stretch my legs, and see if any other interesting animals were at Agua Caliente Park this month. As I approached my usual walking path, I decided to change things up. Often walking the same direction, why not change it; I’ll walk in the reverse direction in the park.
My brain is wired in a particular way, no doubt reinforcing my habits. So I got thinking about myself as a right-handed person and how different it feels when I use my left hand for simple tasks. Now how would I feel to walk in the direction opposite from my usual path?
Birds seen!
Walking in the opposite direction on the paths I have walked a hundred times at this park was at first strange. My brain prompted me to stop every so often and determine where exactly I was on the trail and to assess some of my usual birding opportunities from the different angle. It was an interesting time to realize how simply changing the direction of my walk offered me a different perspective on my outing. I enjoyed the walk and will continue to change things up as my walks continue here in the coming months.
Have you ever changed things up? Were there any advantages or disadvantages to the change up? Maybe you were forced to do things differently from your normal routine, share if you wish.
Nature abounds in our backyard as I watch almost 100 Western honeybees at one of 2 Baja fairy duster plants! Look closely to see a bee:
So many Western honey bees!
We are also very excited when we see hummingbirds stopping at our desert willow trees and Baja fairy duster plants. Especially when they rest on a tree branch since one rarely sees a hummingbird not moving. The javelina continue to walk past my bedroom window and coyotes are in the neighborhood, as are bobcats. I’m soon off on another adventure so I will return with backyard 2026 nature journals.
