Tag: Coronado National Forest

After deriding people for chasing after the eared quetzal for their birding lists, I went chasing after — the eared quetzal. This bird is a very rare visitor from the Sierra Madre mountains of Mexico. Every fifteen years or so it shows up in the madrean sky islands of southeastern Arizona. This year three of them have been spotted in the Chiricahua Mountains in Cochise County, and I saw two of them — a remarkable addition to my Big Week list. 

Eared quetzal (Euptilotis neoxenus) at Cave Creek near Portal, Arizona. 

Recent hummingbirds. 

In terms of species diversity, I live in what is probably the best hummingbird habitat in the United States. All of these photos were taken at the Ash Canyon Bird Sanctuary and at Beatty’s Guest Ranch in Cochise County, Arizona.

From top:

Female and male Anna’s hummingbirds in flight (Calypte anna).

Black-chinned hummingbird (Archilochus alexandri 

♂).

Male and female broad-billed hummingbirds (Cynanthus latirostris).

Rivoli’s hummingbird (Eugenes fulgens 

♂). This bird was formerly called the magnificent hummingbird.

White-eared hummingbird (Basilinna leucotis

♂)

Gila woodpecker (Melanerpes uropygialis). Ha! This is not a hummingbird. I just wanted to see if you were paying attention. 

Please click any photo in the set for enlarged views.