Birds of the PHX 'burbs

@phxbirds.bsky.social

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Videos and stills from my walks and from backyard birdcams in desert suburbia. All images taken by me, never AI, which needs to die already. ID corrections welcome!

A small rock filled fountain with varying numbers of male and female brown-headed cowbirds, but at one point there are four males visible, and three or four females visible at another point
A glorious black and yellow bird with a red head stands on the rim of a rock-filled fountain and occasionally dips its head for a drink
A European starling lays on a green plastic lawn littered with twigs, leaves and fallen Palo Verde flowers, its back to the sun and its wings outstretched to dry or maybe kill parasites or maybe because it feels nice
a pair of juvenile European starlings stand on the rim of a bronze plastic bird bath in front of a dark grey block wall. One starling moves close to the camera, eyeing it suspiciously, then the second hop-flies over to investigate. When the first bird starts cleaning its beak on the rim, the second starling goes in for a closer look, which causes a scuffle.
A wire mesh cylinder feeder with a blue metal conical roof and flat blue base hangs from a patio cover. It sways with the weight of a pair of green lovebirds with pink faces and blue butts, working their way around & enjoying tasty snacks. At the end of the video, they fly away.
A white winged dove walks back and forth along the rim of a bronze plastic bird bath between a dark grey block wall and a sage bush. It does this several times, then reaches its head down, releases its grip on the rim, and slides into the bath like a boat launch. Amazing.
The image says "big bath new : someone has been spotted" and shows a white winged dove in a bronze plastic bird bath in front of a dark grey block wall. The tip of its beak is in the water, its wings and body point upwards, and its tail is weirdly contorted downwards, or sideways from our perspective. A branch of sage bush pokes into the lower left of the frame.
A coppery green bird bath on a pedestal sits to the right of a large sage bush in an expanse of brown rock in front of a dark grey block wall. A juvenile European starling moves around in the bath, mouth open and occasionally screaming at the adult, who is perched on the rim and occasionally sips from the water. I know I'm projecting but the parent looks tired to me, poor thing.
Two European starlings stand on the rim of a bronze plastic bird bath in front of a dark grey block wall. One stands on the rim closest to the camera, the top of its head and face cut off by the framing, but it appears to be looking upward. The one on the rear of the rim is also looking at the sky.
An adult house finch with brown feathers and a red head feeds a fledgling finch on the arm of an Adirondack chair, regurgitating into the baby's mouth while it flutters its wings. There are rope bird savers in front of the glass this was shot through; a string of fairy lights across the lower left corner; and the background is a golden sea of fallen Palo Verde flowers. The feeding continues for most of the video, until Dad flies off for more food.
A bright green Rosy-faced lovebird sits on a feeder with its back to us. It has a short blueish tail and just the merest hint of its pink face visible as it angles towards a plastic tube feeder hanging in front of a dark grey block wall. The feeder has dark green metal perches and a clear plastic dish at the bottom.
A coppery green bird bath on a pedestal sits to the right of a large sage bush in an expanse of brown rock in front of a dark grey block wall. On the right hand rim of the bath, facing the bath, stands an extremely shiny European starling, in unbelievable shades of black and green and purple and with white spots on its back. It stretches its neck and the light on its neck and breast turns to an oval patch of white. It moves around the bath, bending and drinking and moving again,and the light reflects off different parts of the body: first a shoulder, then a wing, iridescence changing with movement. At the end of the video, the starling turns and faces to our right and flies away.
A coppery green bird bath on a pedestal sits to the left of a large sage bush in an expanse of brown rock in front of a dark grey block wall. On the rim of the bath, facing the bath, stands a Brown headed cowbird. It has the usual brown head and black bodies of the general run of cowbirds, but then it also has random white spots. I think they might be leucistic. This one sits facing left for a moment, then turns around to face the other way, tilting it's head and listening to the sparrows and other birds. The cowbird itself doesn't sing, which is a shame, because their sweet, gurgling song is one of my favorites.
A pink and green lovebird sits on the rim of a bronze plastic bird bath in the corner of a block wall, dappled with shade. The bird is sometimes facing the camera, sometimes looking to the side, and all the while its mouth is slightly open, so that when it faces the camera, it look like this: 😃
A pink and green rosy faced lovebird sits on the rim of a bronze plastic bird bath in front of a wall, in dappled shade. It's facing the camera and the mouth is open in what looks like a delighted smile, which is the exact face I made when I saw this
A rosy-faced lovebird, a green bird with a pink face and short blue-green tail, stands with its back to us on the rim of a bronze birdbath. It uses its beak to work its way to the left, looking at the low water level.
A screenshot from the Merlin app's sound ID screen, showing birds it has identified singing nearby. There is a grey and white graphic representation of the sounds, followed by a list of the birds with photos of each. The names are in English with the Latin name below, and each has a blue dot next to the name to indicate I've already found the bird before. The list says: House Sparrow Passer domesticus European Starling Sturnus vulgaris Mourning Dove Zenaida macroura Eurasian Collared-Dove Streptopelia decaocto Great-tailed Grackle Quiscalus mexicanus Northern Mockingbird Mimus polyglottos Common Raven Corvus corax House Finch Haemorhous mexicanus Northern Cardinal Cardinalis cardinalis
A brown headed bird with a black body and random white spots drinks at a green bird bath between a sage bush and a block wall. It is joined by a sparrow, but takes off shortly thereafter.
A curve billed thrasher sips water from a greenish bath sitting in the midst of a sage bush in front of a dark grey block wall. It takes several drinks, then flies off to the right.
A female great tailed grackle sits on the rim of a bronze plastic bird bath. She has grabbed peanuts from the tray a few feet away, dropped them in the bath to clean them, and is now eating them at her leisure
a female Anna's hummingbird bathing in a small ceramic dish in a fountain in the sun. She sits on the rim with her tail in the water, switches to a forward stance and continues bathing, then back to sitting backwards, her tail spread wide in the water and wings vibrating, before flying off for breakfast
A female Gila woodpecker hanging off the wire cage of a red cylinder feeder that hangs from a patio ceiling in a desert back yard. The feeder is filled with decimated feed cylinders. At 0:13 you can hear the boy woodpecker in the background, to whom she responds with a loud call of her own. She continues pecking at the cylinder until the end of the clip. In the lower left corner you can see a similar green-capped feeder with an untouched cylinder of food. You can't see that it is woodpecker-specific. She hasn't noticed it, alas.
A pair of European starlings bathe noisily in a green bird bath next to a sage bush. There is a cacophony of sparrows in the background, and plenty of rattles and beeps from the starlings. They are briefly joined by a sparrow, whom they chase off. The arrival of the third starling breaks up the party and everyone flies away.
And now the male Gila woodpecker is snacking at not-the-woodpecker-feeder 🤦🏻‍♀️
A screenshot of two bird cams. The top one is labeled "woodpecker feeder" and shows a hanging feeder with a suet cake full of fruit and bugs. It is 100% free of birds of any kind. The bottom shot is labeled "cylinder feeder" and shows a cylindrical wire cage holding cylinders of bird food like fruit and nuts and bugs. There is a female Gila woodpecker hanging off the wire, eating the food. If you were here with me, you could hear her screaming, too.
25 second video of an Anna's hummingbird flitting around a rock-filled fountain. It's a solar fountain and the sun hasn't reached the panel, so the water isn't yet flowing out of the tube in the center. The hummingbird's disappointment is palpable
A video, approximately 1:25 long, of a beige and brown hawk with yellow talons sitting facing us on and in a green suburban bird bath in the midst of a sage bush, with a dark grey block wall in the background. Despite making mouth and throat movements, there is no audible sound from the hawk, although there are plenty of bird noises in the background. The hawk sits on the edge of the bath, looking around and drinking from the bath. There is a brief freeze between 0:12 and 0:15, and a short time skip at 0:25, after which the bird is sitting IN the bath, with its lower feathers clumped and wet, chillin those toes. It continues to sit in the bath, drinking and looking around with interest, until it hears a sharp, mechanical noise and startles, freezing and then swiveling its head. It hears another similar noise, decides that's enough chill time, and takes off to the right of the frame, belly exposed, wings outstretched and yellow talons dripping water. The screen goes black.