Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Red Mountain Park

While in Arizona, most days were spent doing nothing as we had no vehicle to go anywhere and it was a bit warm to try walking anywhere. Besides, there's absolutely nothing within a couple miles of Grandpa's place... just other housing and commercial shops selling things we had no desire or need for.

But one afternoon, Grandpa and Dad finished up their errands by about 1 p.m. So mom & I took off in the car for a local park called Red Mountain Park. It's fairly new and the amenities are still being built there and around it. But it's an oasis of sorts. They actually spend the money keeping up a pond and a major grassy area. Not eco-friendly, but at least the animals like it :)
Red_Mtn_Park-1
We saw quite an array of critters despite it being the heat of the day.
Rock_Squirrel-1
This Rock Squirrel could easily be mistaken for a California Ground Squirrel except for the location.
Round-tail_Ground_Sq-6
We also saw Round-tailed Ground Squirrels that are quite small compared to the Rock Squirrels.

Red Mountain Park certainly had tons of Great-tailed Grackles. They seemed to rule the park. But looking at the tree landscaped areas, I had a hunch I'd see other birds. That hunch was rewarded as there I saw for the first time, a Verdin.
verdin-4
I didn't know what it was at the time, but after searching later back at Grandpa's I discovered what it was. It wasn't all that hard, not too many little gray birds have solid bright yellow heads.
gambels_quail-2
It's also the place to easily see Gambel's Quail. There were plenty about.
gambels_quail-18
Including this family of Quail!

Best of all though were the two Turkey Vultures that circled overhead several times.
turkey_vulture-30
Once, even VERY close.

There were a lot of other birds, but instead of boring you here on this blog, I invite you to look at my Flickr page. This link is mine tagged "Red Mountain Park"

4 comments:

Linda in Erie said...

I have never heard of the Verdin, either. Nor those kinds of ground squirrels or quail. The one ground squirrel looks like a lizard at first glance. Wonderful photos. We are driving to California in a few weeks and I'm hoping to see new and different birds along the way from PA to CA. I'll keep my binoculars and field guides and camera in hand. Surely I'll see something at the rest stops.

Leedra said...

The top photo gives the appearence of being right there. Can just step right in. Great photo.

Leedra’s Photos For Fun

Heidi said...

LOL Leedra, it does! One step and SPLASH :)

Thanks Linda... I just KNOW you'll see plenty of new birds and critters. Maybe not so much in the midwest, but if you hit the southwest you will... and then for sure in California. There is a lot of wildlife here as you can tell from my mom's and my blogs.

Mary C said...

I bet Linda will see plenty in the midwest, too. So many more trees. If she doesn't see them, she will surely hear them!

 

Current skin is Spring Green 2009
Best viewed on Firefox at 1024x768, larger or widescreen.
If you must use Internet Explorer, update to IE8 or the sidebars will look funky.