Sedona day 2 midday

We started out with an excellent breakfast - with one of the party ordering and enjoying a 3-lb cinnamon roll. Then we visited the V-bar-V ranch that has some wonderful pictographs from the Sinauga Indians. There was plenty to see along with a guide at the site that did an excellent job of explaining what the current thinking is about the various symbols and figures. Fascinating!
Some small birds, a red-tailed hawk, a Spotted Towhee and others entertained us.
Here's some shots of our trip .... starting with Century Plant flowers.

Sedona morning

Good morning from Sedona! The sunrise started out beautiful but quickly degenerated  into a quite bland feature of the day. Nevermind, I'll take what I get.
Walking around the complex yielded other opportunities, Century plant leaves, Century plant flower framing a hot air balloon, mourning doves and a bunny rabbit watching me from under a tree.
Enjoy!

Sedona 2018

We're visiting Sedona with a friend for a few days this week, flew to Phoenix and drove up through the hills. Beautiful. The Saguaro's were welcoming in the lower altitudes.

Refuge Monday

A foggy, smoggy day in the refuge, but still the wildlife is active. Harriers swooping, Red-taileds gliding, Rough-legged being curious about this two legged being with a third eye and his 4 legged companion.
Without light, photos of birds are pretty iffy - so only two others made it in here other than the swamp sparrow. He was pretty close and the air was clear between us. Grasses are outstanding in this kind of weather.

Juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron..

Rough-legged was very curious about us.

Swamp sparrow sat still long enough to let me photograph it.

Backyard visitors

Refuge Wednesday

Another wonderful day at the refuge - new birds to photograph and old ones wanting a new photograph!
The Kingfisher and I had missed connection during the time I was out in the refuge so he(she) caught up to me just as I was leaving the refuge and posed...wonderful!
I'd not seen this coloring on the White-faced Ibis so had to check it out...It is winter coloring according to my manual. Love the three little ones!
Enjoy!

Taking a break - Northern Harrier taking a rest..

Red-winged Blackbird

Rough-legged Hawk

White-faced Ibis inn winter plumage...

Large group of Meadowlarks - is this a sign of spring?

Big V-8 in this guy threw up quite a rooster tail..

Red-tailed Juvenile

Kingfisher

Refuge Tuesday

What a potpourri of birds today! Young Great Blue Herons walking down the road in front of vehicles; multiple juvenile Red-tailed Hawks posing for photos, juvenile Bald Eagle, Northern Harriers, Kestrels, Ravens, seagulls and small sparrows....We had to keep looking over our shoulder to be sure we didn't miss something coming at us!
Molly found a great stick to wrestle with - had not seen her do this before. Boy did she have fun!
Smoggy air impacts photo quality along with other things but here's the ones I liked...