Dinner for the Birds

This afternoon, we saw this hawk fly off of its telephone pole and catch a mouse (I guess it's a mouse),
and then land on another pole to enjoy its prey.

The hawk, continuing to eat.

Earlier in the afternoon, we spent quite a long time watching hummingbirds
eating sugar water from feeders in Miller Canyon.

We are now in Sierra Vista, Arizona, which is not far north of the Mexican border. It's a very rich environment for birds that like higher altitudes but not the completely arid deserts. Besides northern species, birds from Mexico migrate into several canyons nearby. As a result, the area is very attractive to bird watching. 

We visited two sites in these canyons this afternoon. 

• Miller Canyon, the location of the Beatty Ranch. The ranch has a few guest cabins, but is most famous for its hummingbird viewing area. The Beatty family maintains around a dozen feeders to attract a large number of birds of many species. Above the feeders are bleachers where birdwatchers can get a good look at these fascinating birds. On the best day ever for hummingbirds, observers identified 14 different species at the feeders. We saw around 6 species today.
  
• The Nature Conservancy preserve in Ramsey Canyon. We walked along the trail, which follows a beautiful stream bed. The hawk eating its prey was further down the valley as we were leaving the area.