You can see my Best of Landscapes (https://kritterspaw.com/2024/01/20/best-of-landscapes-2024/) and Animals (https://kritterspix.com/2024/01/20/best-of-animals-2023/). I got quite a number of bird photos, so I thought I’s put together a Best of Birds as well. So here goes….
I am always astounded by how big, and how quickly baby birds grow to be full size. I caught these baby acorn woodpeckers being fed by mom.
You can tell the baby by the black eye, while the parents have a yellow ring around their pupil. Both parents feed their young, normally 1 – 2 broods per year.
The red-headed acorn woodpecker eats nuts (acorns), seeds, and insects. They burrow in bark and trees to bury their food for later. It’s fascinating to watch the parent teaching the babies early on to squirrel away seeds to eat later.
Animal behavior is so interesting to watch if you just take the time to observe.
See more baby bird pix here .. https://kritterspaw.com/2023/07/15/bird-watching/
We’ve seen so few big animals, I’ve had to resort to taking pix of the birds! We’ve driven to the rim and seen very few elk or deer. With all the fires, smoke, and lack of water, maybe they’ve taken up residence someplace else.
No matter. We always have all sort of birds to divert my attention.
Living in Northern AZ we get quite the assortment of forest birds. I’ve never been much of a bird watcher, but I may have to take it up!
You know what they say… when given lemons make lemonade…. or something like that.
I would love to have bear and mountain lions to photograph (or even elk and deer), but with all the rain we have had, the big animals have lots of options for food and drink, making them harder to find.
So, in attempt to keep up my wildlife photography, I did a session with this little squirrel (and a few birds).
This little squirrel seems to be quite content to not be sharing his space with big animals.
Finch
Grosbeak
Woodpecker
kritterspix 