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

Is that a Cardinal or a Pyrrhuloxia?

  Whether you collect rocks or photograph wildflowers, it’s always more fun when you know what you are looking at.  Similarly, one of the pleasures of birding is being able to identify the birds you are watching.  A good field … Continue reading

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Monsoon Birding on Mt. Lemmon

Mt. Lemmon’s summit is just nine short miles from SaddleBrooke, but without wings, it’s a two-hour drive:  an hour to Catalina Highway near the base, and another hour to cover the 25 miles to the summit.  If you’re a birder, … Continue reading

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Summertime Birding Getaways in Arizona

  By June, SaddleBrooke’s snowbirds have flown the coop, heading back to their nesting areas in Washington, Michigan, Maine and other northern states.  In order to skip June, they miss the monsoons of July and August, the post-monsoon flowers of … Continue reading

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Roadrunners and Quail

  Here in SaddleBrooke, May is when we start seeing baby quail.  We see Greater Roadrunners year-round, but more likely than not, we will see a lot more of them during baby quail season.  Roadrunners are drawn to baby quail … Continue reading

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Costa Rica: a Paradise for Birders

  Look up information on Costa Rica and you will find it compared with the state of West Virginia in size.  This is a bit of a stretch, since West Virginia is nearly a fourth larger than the Central American … Continue reading

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Birds Do It: a Short Guide to the Sex Life of Birds

Most of us can quote the most memorable lyrics from Cole Porter’s song, Let’s Fall in Love:  ‘Birds do it, Bees do it.  Even educated fleas do it.’  I’m not sure about the fleas, educated or not, but now that … Continue reading

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Do Bird Feeders Attract ‘Pack’ Rats and Spread Disease?

  A ‘Letter to the Editor’ published in February’s TWO’S NEWS, the monthly newsletter for SaddleBrooke’s homeowner’s association HOA 2, claims that “unknowing homeowners” have created a problem for all of us by placing bird feeders in their yards.  The … Continue reading

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Wild Bird Pets and Birds as Threats to Pets

This month we’re looking at two aspects of birds and pets:  can the wild birds of your yard become familiar enough to be considered ‘pets’, and are any of your real pets, dogs and cats, at risk around SaddleBrooke’s wild … Continue reading

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Birding Peppersauce Canyon near Oracle, Arizona

For a birder, one of the joys of living in SaddleBrooke is the incredible diversity of nearby birding sites. Sweetwater, a waste water reclamation area practically in downtown Tucson, is rich with ducks, shorebirds, migrants and Yellow-headed Blackbirds. Just fifteen … Continue reading

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Feeding Birds in the Winter

Just a few years ago it was thought that putting hummingbird feeders out in the winter would encourage birds to hang around past the time they might normally migrate south.  This concern has been proven false for quite some time … Continue reading

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