Elegant Trogon is one of the “want to see” birds on a May trip to southeast Arizona. However, if you visit in February you have to take your chances – hoping for an over-wintering bird in one of the more regular locations.

When we arrived at Madera Canyon we didn’t know there was a bird about so “finding” it the next day was fantastic – a flash of red as it flew up the creek – and then watching it as it sat in shade under an overhang below the road.



By the time we arrived at Sonoita Creek we knew there were two more Elegant Trogons about. We had been right the way along the creek and were returning when they flew in ahead of us. We watched them for about half an hour but throughout it was remarkable how easily such a brightly coloured birds could disappear amongst the bare trees.



As I worked on the drawings they became more and more abstract until I ended with a totally abstract image of the bird in its surroundings.




All of the trip paintings are in the SE Arizona folder at http://www.martin-eccles-artist.co.uk/