This will be the final post featuring birds from the greater Palm Springs area.  Since the CA trip I’ve been accumulating lots of good local photographs, so my next post will be a return to the Pacific Northwest.

I photographed these Western Blue birds at Indian Canyon, just outside of Palm Springs.  There was a large flat rock where native Americans had made holes in which to grind corn and when it rained the holes would collect water.  The water was several inches below the lip of the hole but for some reason the birds seemed to prefer drinking from the holes rather than the clear, cold street that flowed through the canyon just a few feet away.  Early in the morning, with the sun behind me, was a great time/place to photograph several different species of birds.

This is a photo that I’ve wanted to get for a long time but have had difficulty doing so.  This is a male House finch (in the foreground) with a female in the background.  The birds are somewhat dissimilar so I’ve always wanted a photo to illustrate the difference in the sexes.

A Mockingbird, the State Bird of Texas!

Next up… Phainopepla, a bird I’ve generally found in open scrub desert.  The male is pictured first followed by the female.

And finally, a male Costa’s hummingbird back at the condos who came to wish me ‘goodbye’!