Fine Art Images from the American Southwest

Western Tanager, Arroyo Hondo Cottonwood. 05-24-2023

Greetings from San Cristobal and beyond. Western Tanagers have frequented our garden every year in the past. I have never seen so many all at once as I have this year. Yesterday I had to cut them off from the suet. The Western Tanagers frenzy feeding, and flying around erratically bumping into the windows bringing to mind images of drunken sailors. During a respite, I spotted this little guy after he’d wiped his beak clean of the suet on the bark of the flowering pear tree.

Western Tanager bird
Western Tanager.

Here’s a list of birds in the garden over three days this week.

Birds 05-20/21/22-2023

Cassin’s Finch
Spotted Towhee
Pine Siskin
Black-headed Grosbeak
European Starling
Evening Grosbeak
Common Raven
Pinyon Jay
Black-billed Magpie
Eurasian Collared Dove
American Robin
Western Tanager
White-breasted Nuthatch
Broad-tailed Hummingbird
American Crow
House Sparrow
Woodhouse’s Scrub-Jay
Canyon Towhee
Bullock’s Oriole
House Finch
Rose-breasted Grosbeak (the app ID’d it three times but not confirmed).
Common Grackle. (Could be the crow with a sore throat).

Onward!

Pueblo Peak (Taos Mountain) has been and always will be my muse. It is what has kept me drawn to the area I call home. My other muse is my version of “Monet’s Haystacks Series”… the cottonwood tree and red willows growing along an acequia in Arroyo Hondo, a hamlet just south of San Cristobal.

I shot this image a few days ago on May 21, 2023. The second image was taken on May 21, 2022

Arroyo Hondo Cottonwood and willows
Cottonwood and willows along the acequia, Arroyo Hondo.
Arroyo Hondo Cottonwood willows
Arroyo Hondo cottonwood.

As you can see in the second picture the greening up of the willows was about a week more advanced this time last year. The cottonwood is more or less similar in both years.

Continue scrolling to see more images from this series in previous seasons.

Arroyo Hondo Cottonwood
Arroyo Hondo fall cottonwood.
Cottonwood and willows
Cottonwood and willows.
Taos Mountain, Arroyo Hondo, cottonwood
Arroyo Hondo cottonwood, with Taos Mountain.
Red Willows, Cottonwood Tree, Arroyo Hondo
Red Willows and cottonwood tree.
Red Willows and cottonwood tree
Winter willows with cottonwood tree.

This year I’ll be working on a shot of the tree, willows, and valley in summer’s full glory.

There are other images of this scene in my archive. A search will reveal more.

Thank you for all the wonderful comments and compliments, and as always. thank you for looking. G

14 thoughts on “Western Tanager, Arroyo Hondo Cottonwood. 05-24-2023”

  1. Your photography always presents something stunning, imaginative and different, to excite the senses with colour and beauty. Thank you

    Reply
    • Thank you so much, Larry. There’ll be more and hopefully more bird watching and photography this summer. Cheers. G

      Reply
  2. So beautiful & serene. Love the season comparisons…the land we all love. Thank you for sharing your incredible photos 💙

    Reply

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