Author Archives: Bob

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About Bob

A lifelong naturalist, Bob's avocation is birding, including field observation, study, photography and writing. He spent a career in computers and consulting, but his free time has been spent outdoors backpacking, fishing and enjoying nature firsthand. Bob has traveled extensively, exploring and photographing above and underwater in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Egypt and throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, Central and South America. Now retired, as an amateur ornithologist Bob studies, photographs and writes primarily about birds of the Western Hemisphere. Formerly the Feature Writer for Latin America and Caribbean Travel at Suite101.com, he has been Suite101's Feature Writer for Birds and Birding since January, 2010, and has received seven Editor's Choice awards, which are listed below. Bob also writes a monthly birding column for a newspaper in Arizona, and his work appears in the travel magazine, Another Day in Paradise, published in Zihuatanejo, Mexico. His blog, Birding the 'Brooke and Beyond, discusses birding, travel and other topics in Southeast Arizona and beyond. Bob is a member of the National and Tucson Audubon Societies, Western Field Ornithologists, Arizona Field Ornithologists, the American Birding Association and other birding and conservation organizations. Bob and his wife, Prudy, live in the Santa Catalina Mountain foothills near Tucson, Arizona. To date, Bob has received Suite101 Editor's Choice awards for the following articles: • Birding by Cruise Ship in the Caribbean • The Xantus' Hummingbird, Baja California's Only Endemic Hummer • Birding the White Mountains in and Around Greer, Arizona • The Greater Roadrunner, New Mexico's State Bird • Where to Find Steelhead on the Lower Deschutes River in Oregon • Birding La Bajada near San Blas, Mexico • The 2008 Christmas Bird Count at Estero del Yugo in Mazatlan

Gardening and Landscaping for Bird Lovers

  If you love to watch birds and want to see them in your yard, feeders are one way to attract them, but certainly not the only way.  How you landscape your yard, and what flowers, trees, cactus and shrubs … Continue reading

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Wings Over Willcox and other Arizona Birding Festivals

Arizona is well known as one of the best places in the United States to look for birds, ranking in the top three according to an article published in USA Today.  The article quoted a U.S. Fish and Wildlife survey … Continue reading

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The Audubon Society’s Christmas Bird Count

This year will mark the 113th consecutive year that the annual ‘Christmas’ Bird Count takes place.  As you might imagine, the count has changed a lot in 113 years.  Although the first count happened on Christmas Day in 1900, and … Continue reading

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November is Turkey Month, and Wild Turkeys are Thankful

Unlike their domesticated cousins, Wild Turkeys worry little about the approach of Thanksgiving. However, this wasn’t always the case. In fact, loss of habitat and unregulated hunting nearly wiped out all of U.S. Wild Turkeys by the mid 1930s. There … Continue reading

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House Sparrows and House Finches, our Most Common Birds

After I wrote about one of my favorite birds last May, the Black-throated Sparrow, I received several reports of yards ‘full of’ these special birds.  The Black-throated Sparrow is, in fact, seen in most SaddleBrooke yards, but most of the … Continue reading

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The Vermilion Flycatcher, a Ruby with Wings

Of all the colorful birds in southeastern Arizona, the one certain to get your attention is the male Vermilion Flycatcher.  Perched on a low branch, his brilliant red crown and breast reflecting Arizona sunshine, he looks like a ruby with … Continue reading

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Fall Migration of Birds in Southeast Arizona

Home to some of the best watching in the country, southeast Arizona actually has four birding ‘seasons’.  Our resident birds, like Cactus Wrens, Curve-billed Thrashers and Northern Cardinals, live here year-round and give us a continuous ‘season’ of birding.  A … Continue reading

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The Sapsucker, a Hummingbird’s Best Friend?

If you think ‘woodpecker’ is a funny name for a bird, how would you like to be called a ‘sapsucker’?  Like Rodney Dangerfield, the Picidae family just gets no respect.  There are 22 members of this family in North America, … Continue reading

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The Incredible Hummingbird

It’s hard to imagine living in a place without hummingbirds, but most people in the world are not likely ever to see one. Better than three percent of the planet’s 10,000 bird species are hummingbirds, but they live only in … Continue reading

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Camp Robber: The Gray Jay

If you want to get to know the Gray Jay, plan a picnic in one of Summit County’s high forests.  Find a suitable spot, open your lunch bag, sit back and relax.  You won’t have to wait long, since they … Continue reading

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