We spent the Christmas holiday in Palm Springs, California. Within the city limits lies a portion of the Agua Caliente Indian Reservation. Several thousand acres of reservation land include several canyons. Three are accessible by car. They were a six-minute drive from our inn. The desert brushland leading to the canyons also offers good birding. It was nothing like the spectacle at the top of the third canyon, however. There, a small store had four hummingbird feeders in place just outside its door. Costa's Hummingbird winters in that area. Costa's is North America's smallest hummingbird, and certainly one its most beautiful. We watched dozens of these birds feeding at the store late one afternoon. Here's a photo of a male Costa's. This was a holiday highlight.
