A Few Birds from a Recent Phoenix Trip

[mjdmike]

I met up with friends/fellow TPF'ers Eddie and Rhonda (aka 'RhondaKH') last weekend in Phoenix after a business trip. We WERE plannning to go to the Grand Canyon, but opted not to after seeing the 14 degree/snowy weather.

One of our side trips was to the Boyce Thompson Arboretum, located East of Phoenix. If you're ever in that part of the country, and are looking for a nice place to see desert plant life, this is the place to go. It was surprisingly beautiful and was chock full of arid-land plants from all over the country.

An added bonus were the many birds we found while admiring the gardens. Here are a few. All of these were taken with a Canon XTi, 100-400mm, 400 or 800 ISO, f5.6, Av, various shutter speeds.

Cactus Wren


House Finch


American Goldfinch


Hooded Oriole


Western Tanager


Coopers Hawk


Gila Woodpecker

[StudioDesigntC]

Wow really nice pics. I especially like housefinch shot. I didn't realize this was so close to me, looks like I'll be taking a trip soon!

[ttusa]

I like the Cactus Wren the best-nice perspective!

[Glassman]

Awesome pictures, I love the Hooded Oriole. I thought I had a good copy of the lens you used but your is razor sharp.

[snidow]

Wow Mike nice job, that trip out to Arizona must have been a good one. Love the Cactus Wren!

[MT Stringer]

Nice. Very, very nice indeed.
Mike

[Tim T]

More great shots Mike. Good work on all of them.