Tag Archives: bird photography

Bird of the Week — Curve-billed Thrasher

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Bird of the Week: CLXX

Curve-billed Thrasher — Toxostoma curvirostre

  • ORDER: Passeriformes
  • FAMILY: Mimidae

I call the Curve-billed Thrasher the bully bird of our backyard. With their curved strong beaks, they often intimidate other birds and take over the bird feeder. Once in the feeder, the Curve-billed Thrasher uses his beak to thrash back and forth through the birdseed. Most of it lands on the ground where our quail gladly gather.

Without our bird feeder, the Curve-billed Thrasher uses its beak to endlessly overturn ground in a sweeping motion foraging for insects, spiders and other food. This is similar to how they approach the bird feeder. They also eat the fruits and seeds of saguaro, prickly pear, and cholla.

Curve-billed Thrashers live in the desert Southwest of the United States and Mexico.

Map from All About Birds.

A Curve-billed Thrasher perching on a pink flamingo.

Measurements (both sexes):

Length: 10.6-11.0 in (27-28 cm)
Weight: 2.1-3.3 oz (60.8-93.6 g)
Wingspan: 13.4-13.6 in (34-34.5 cm)

They have strong legs, a curved beak, long tail and bright yellow orange eyes. The Curve-billed Thrashers in our Sonoran Desert are gray, but further south in Texas and Mexico they have lighter chests and are often speckled.

Curve-billed Thrashers mate for life and defend their territories that are five to 11 acres of desert land. They build nests in cholla or prickly pear cactus where the spikes protect them.

Call: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Curve-billed_Thrasher/sounds

Happy Friday Photos

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This is a Gilded Flicker on our birdbath. I was excited to see I had captured this photo. Maybe I’ll use this in the future for a Bird of the Week challenge that I’m posting on Wednesdays.

I’m out of energy taking care of my husband post surgery. He’s not very demanding, but I’m trying to make things as easy as possible for him. He’s going to Physical Therapy already and I’m driving, which if you read my previous posts, you know is not my favorite thing to do!

For today’s post, I’m using some of my favorite photos I took this week. And I am going to be light on words.

Papa Gambel’s quail with a little one in tow.

Another Harris’s antelope squirrel practicing heat dumping, which is how they cool down. He was close to the window looking straight at me and my camera.

A Brown-Headed Cowbird made his first visit to our backyard. The Mourning Doves seem fascinated with the newcomer.

A closeup of a baby quail.

No post is complete without Red.

What is your favorite photo?

What are your plans for the weekend?

Bird of the Week — Roadrunner

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CLXVII

Greater Roadrunner (Geococcyx californianus)

Our largest cuckoo, this bird is characterized by a long tail, streaked appearance, frequently erected shaggy crest, and a blue and orange bare patch of skin behind the eyes. It is capable of running very rapidly across the ground (15 mph) and rarely flies. Like all cuckoos, the Roadrunner is a zygodactyl bird (it has 2 toes pointing forward and 2 toes backward).
–Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum


Roadrunners are found in Southwest United States and Northern Mexico. They prefer arid semi-arid areas. They do not migrate, maintaining territories in California, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, and parts of Utah, Colorado, and Mexico.

They eat mostly animals, anything they can catch including rodents, lizards, scorpions, frogs and birds and eggs. Fruit, seeds and other plant material make up for 10% of their diet.

Size:

  • Length: 20.5-21.3 in (52-54 cm)
  • Weight: 7.8-19.0 oz (221-538 g)
  • Wingspan: 19.3 in (49 cm)

Sounds: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Greater_Roadrunner/sounds

Photos of the Week

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“Something to talk about.” Red and friends.

These are birds and the squirrel that I photographed in the last week or two. I never get tired of watching and photographing them. I am not posting the quail babies or momma and papa quail, since Wednesday’s Bird of the Week was all about quail.

This is my favorite photo I’ve ever taken of Mrs. I posted it on a photography group I follow on Nextdoor and it was selected as the featured photo of the week. Someone commented and asked me how I knew it was a Mrs. and not a Mr. Well, as you can see Red looks a little bit different than Mrs. I think people who aren’t familiar with Northern Cardinals don’t recognize the female as one.

This is a Harris’s Antelope Squirrel heat dumping. Stretching out and lying on his tummy is how they cool down in the heat.

Our backyard bully, the Curve-Billed Thrasher.

Another bully bird, a Gila Woodpecker.

A House Finch resting on a cactus.

My second most favorite photo of Mrs. I love her olive-green color.

Red is wondering why he has to share birdseed with the squirrel.

I love Bonnie Raitt and this is a great song. I’ll never forget the news story in 2025 when she won her 13th Grammy for “Just Like That.” The reporter wrote about how an “unknown” won Song of the Year.

Happy Friday! What are your plans for this weekend?

What is your favorite photo and why?

Gilded Flickers, Gila Woodpeckers, Mourning Doves and Red

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This video from my new Bird Buddy feeder begins with a female Gilded Flicker. Then a male, with the red markings on his face, takes over. I see Gila Woodpeckers more than these larger woodpeckers. The flickers have spots while the Gila Woodpeckers have similar colors but a black and white pattern on their backs.

The new Bird Buddy has a longer battery life than my old one. I do have them both up and running, but I have to charge the older one more often — which I did yesterday. The birds seem to prefer the new feeder or maybe it’s the placement? I turned the feeder around because I was getting photos of my neighbor’s house. I don’t know the neighbors to the left of us, but somehow I doubt they’d want me making videos of their yard and posting them on my blog!

This video captures a Gila Woodpecker so you can compare it with the Gilded Flickers above. There are also House Sparrows and Mourning Doves taking their turns. The first two videos are from the new feeder.

These battling Mourning Doves are from my first Bird Buddy feeder. You can notice a difference in the quality of the video. Or maybe the camera needs to be cleaned?

Since I’m in Arizona, I’m keeping track of the missing Nancy Guthrie story. I hope the family gets answers soon!

Red and Mrs.also paid a visit to the new feeder.

What are your plans for this weekend? Are you rooting for the Seahawks?

Missing Red

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Here are a few of the best photos I got of Red this week, plus two of Mrs. I’m going to miss my backyard birds, especially my cardinal couple and quail. I have hired my former cat sitter to watch over the house and most importantly feed the birds! Hopefully, Red and Mrs. won’t abandon me while we travel.

Here are my favorite photos of the week:

Red perching on our beavertail cactus art.

Mrs. enjoying some bird seed.

Red on the fence. I liked how the morning light was shining through his crest.

I don’t get that many photos of Red with a front on angle.

I liked the sharp focus on this one.

Mrs. enjoys the beavertail cactus statue, too.

Do you have a favorite photo this week?

What are your exciting plans for the weekend?

The Ordinary Guys

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While I’m resting and recovering from a bout of COVID-25, I discovered writing isn’t that easy. My head feels stuffy and thick. I’m doing better sitting inside the casita photographing my bird buddies. Instead of focusing on my cardinal couple Red and Mrs., I felt it was time for the ordinary guys to have their day in the sun.

The photo above is a House Finch munching on a sunflower seed. (Please feel free to correct my bird identification.) I like the wings of a dove behind him.

Papa quail and a teen in front of a Barrel Cactus.

The baby quails are growing into awkward looking teens.

A House Finch on top of a Barrel Cactus.

House Finch on Beavertail Cactus statue.

I liked the angle of the finch and a different cactus.

We have an abundance of White-Winged Doves. Here’s one in a tree.

One not so ordinary guy:

Last but not least, our resident Roadrunner, getting ready make his move.

Do you have a favorite bird photo? If so, which one?

What exciting plans do you have for the weekend?