The next day I hit up the Paton's yard early morning, a spot notorious for bringing in great birds to the feeders that are stocked year round. I saw the usual suspects, but was happy to find four or five Lazuli Buntings tentatively eating seed.
Yellow-rumped Warbler taking a break from the suet.
Bridled Titmouse
I then spend the rest of the morning exploring Patagonia-Sonoita Creek Preserve, where I was greeted by a large flock of Lark Sparrows, a species I'd really only seen a handful of before.
Lark Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Though not extremely birdy, the two miles of trail I walked were great, showing lots of Abert's and Canyon Towhees, my first Phainopepla*, my first Hepatic Tanager in the US, and more Gila Woodpeckers than I needed.
Hepatic Tanager
Canyon Towhee
One of the fun discoveries here was a small section of stream where I found a Say's, Black, and Eastern Phoebe all feeding within 20 feet of each other. Though the former two are quite common in the area, the Eastern is somewhat of a rarity and was great to have next to the other two.
Eastern Phoebe
A Cooper's Hawk that was undoubtedly snacking on a Lark Sparrow only moments ago.
My final excitement for the reserve were the two Rufous-winged Sparrows I spotted in the parking lot on my way to my car. This was a bird I was hoping to see, but was told I'd be lucky to find, but I think they're fairly common at this location and was just lucky to have not passed them off as something else.
Ah yes, and this dummy, an Inca Dove
