Tag: pyrrhuloxia

Full disclosure pyrrhuloxia.

For every unobstructed, clear, and nicely framed shot of a bird I take, I end up with a hundred shots obscured by a scrim of leaves or twigs or branches. This is one of those hundred, and a candidate entry for a side-blog project I’m thinking of starting: anevenfatterchance.tumblr.com, where I will only post pictures of out-of-focus birds. 

Pyrrhuloxia (Cardinalis sinuatus) with mesquite leaves and twigs, at Rabbitbrush Arroyo (not its real name), in Cochise County, Arizona. 

Pyrrhuloxia (Cardinalis sinuatus), at the Desert Botanical Garden, Phoenix, Arizona.

Since I moved to Arizona, the bird I most wanted to see was a pyrrhuloxia. I knew my chances were best closer to the border with Mexico, but I was encouraged when I learned that they were occasional visitors to Maricopa County. Pyrrhuloxias are like overgrown cardinals, a bit more stocky, like a cardinal that has been going to the gym every day. And their yellow beaks are blunt and stubby. When I was out in woody habitat I would see a flash of red in the trees, get excited for a pyrrhuloxia sighting, then be disappointed at finding a northern cardinal instead, which is foolish indeed. You should never be disappointed at seeing a cardinal.

Then yesterday I was at the botanical garden, enjoying a cup of coffee at the patio cafe, and this fine fellow flew overhead and perched on a palo verde over my table. 

There is a kind of elation, a lifting of care and worry that I sometimes feel when I see an unexpected bird, especially one that is new to me. This one made me almost giddy. 

Pyrrhuloxia (Cardinalis sinuatus), at the Desert Botanical Garden, Phoenix, Arizona.

Since I moved to Arizona, the bird I most wanted to see was a pyrrhuloxia. I knew my chances were best closer to the border with Mexico, but I was encouraged when I learned that they were occasional visitors to Maricopa County. Pyrrhuloxias are like overgrown cardinals, a bit more stocky, like a cardinal that has been going to the gym every day. And their yellow beaks are blunt and stubby. When I was out in woody habitat I would see a flash of red in the trees, get excited for a pyrrhuloxia sighting, then be disappointed at finding a northern cardinal instead, which is foolish indeed. You should never be disappointed at seeing a cardinal.

Then yesterday I was at the botanical garden, enjoying a cup of coffee at the patio cafe, and this fine fellow flew overhead and perched on a palo verde over my table. 

There is a kind of elation, a lifting of care and worry that I sometimes feel when I see an unexpected bird, especially one that is new to me. This one made me almost giddy.