The place we were staying just outside Portal had a very heathy population of Acorn woodpeckers and most had already laid claim to holes in the many large trees on the property.  These birds are simply adorable and fairly tolerant of human presence.

You might assume that this woodpecker has a hole in the side of a tree, but to obtain this photo I had to lay on my back and shoot directly overhead.  The hole was in the bottom of a large limb and this woodpecker is hanging its head out looking down at me.

The facility where we stayed had a lot of feeders out and attracted a lot of birds, but the conditions were rather poor for photography.  However I did manage to photograph this Scott’s oriole in the vicinity of the feeders.

One of the nicer features of the place we were staying was that each of our cabins was provided one or two platform feeders with sunflower seeds, and I moved our feeders around to take advantage of sunlight and places from which I could photograph.  Here a Pine siskin sits in the area of one of the platform feeders.

A Lesser goldfinch…

Here’s a Bridled titmouse, a bird found only in a narrow range in NM and AZ.  I think this one is having a bad hair day!

There’s a very generous birder who lives in or just outside of Portal who shares his property with the public for birding purposes and maintains several different feeders and watering stations.  He even provides a picnic table, chairs and a shade tree for birders!  There are many species of birds that can be seen on his property.  Pictured below are Western Scrub-jays at his viewing area.

A bird I really came to appreciate, and which I have rarely seen on my travels, is this Green-tailed towhee, also at the aforementioned viewing area.  The harsh lighting doesn’t do this bird justice.

And finally (remember, there is always a ‘finally’), this Great Horned owl had a nest in a cavity of a tree at Portal’s only restaurant.  Not to worry… I’m not nearly as close as it appears!