In addition to landscape photography, I love to photograph birds. I enjoy the environments where they live, searching for the birds and then capturing them in digital photography. It’s a very rewarding experience.

I am currently wintering just south of Phoenix. So I decided to take a few days and go boondocking in the Phoenix area and go visit my two favorite birding locations. This post covers one of my favorite places – the Gilbert Water Ranch. This riparian preserve has 110 acres of wetlands with 7 ponds and numerous trails and blinds in which to view the wildlife. It’s such a peaceful place to walk or sit and enjoy nature any time of year.

As you can see, there are so many trails in which to view the ponds. It’s not too green during the winter, but in the warmer months, this place is a lush paradise offering tree covered trails. Birds flock here all year long, but numbers climb during the two migrations.

I first started my birding walk by going to the trails that go to the most popular ponds for birds. I’ve visited here many times over the years, and I’ve learned that there are two ponds that seem to attract most of the water birds. Along my way in the early morning light, I saw this Northern Mockingbird sitting so pretty for me. It’s like he was posing for his photo.

At the first pond, the birds that stand out the most are the bright white egrets. There were both Snowy and Great Egret.

After seeing the most obvious of the birds, I started looking for other birds. I was happy to see lots of Black-Crowned Night Herons roosting in the trees and bushes along the shores of the ponds. They blend in very well with the shadows. But to my delight, one of them was perched right out in the open. I got my best ever photo of this species. You can even see the single white feather that protrudes from the back of their heads. I love the red eyes they have.

There were American Coots everywhere! I liked that I was able to capture one with his foot out of the water. I think they have the coolest feet! They are designed that way to enable them to walk atop the fallen reeds in the water.

There were several wintering duck varieties on the ponds.

I was also able to see three varieties of teal ducks. Sadly I was only able to photograph two of them. But I did get the males of the species.

There were lots of shorebirds about. I was able to photograph a couple of the shorebirds. Unfortunately for me, many of them were just too far away to capture.

The highlight of the water birds was the sighting of several White Pelicans. I rarely get to see a pelican since I live in the desert.

As the morning temperature warmed up, I started looking for other birds feeding among the bushes and trees along the trails.

Some of them are soooooo tiny. It’s a real treat to be able to photograph them. But it’s truly awesome when you can get a great photo of one of these tiny birds. I was blessed and captured several great images this morning.

I ended the day with photographing one of my most favorite birds. And I got the male and the female. The Vermillion Flycatcher is a truly stunning bird. Always a big highlight to see when I’m out birding.

I hope you enjoyed seeing all the wonderful birds I was able to capture. If you are ever in the Phoenix area and you are interested in birding or walking nice nature trails, I highly recommend the Gilbert Water Ranch.

Next post I will be visiting the Phoenix Desert Botanical Gardens both during the day and for the night light show.