Great Kiskadee, Alamo, Texas.
The day after Christmas we went to the wild bird feed store and picked up a sack of our favorite mix. Charlie, the cardinal, looked brilliant but lonely and hungry out by the fence in back, in the single digit temperatures, the frost and the snow. I did some catching up on my favorite nature blog, Backyard Biology, by my friend Sue (whose photo of an American Redstart I was privileged to use on my first book cover three years ago). She has shared her favorite non-Minnesota bird shots from the past year, also giving permission for me to share them with you.
Male Red-wing Blackbirds in Alamo, Texas.
Phainpepla, Tuscon, Arizona.
Gila Woodpeckers, Tucson, Arizona.
Magnificent Hummingbird, Santa Ridge Lodge, Arizona.
Cactus Wren, Tucson, Arizona.
Tri-colored Heron, Padre Island, Texas.
And my Painted Redstart, Portal, Arizona.
Happy New Year 2018 to feathered and non-feathered friends alike. Let’s hear it for protected habitats in the year to come.
The Amazing Bird Collection 
Thank you, Margaret! Audubon has declared 2018 the Year of the Bird, in honor of the Centennial of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, one of the earliest environmental legislative actions in the world. I hope we can find new and better ways to protect our feathered friends from pesticides, habitat destruction, and destructive climatic events.
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Yes! They need our help! Theodore Roosevelt said that losing any species of bird was like losing the art masters of old.
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