Harris's Hawk

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Watchful waiting pays off for the Harris's Hawk.

As a hawk of the arid southwest, the Harris's Hawk is the picture of patience.

Upright and formal in appearance, an adult Harris's Hawk looks regal while surveying the house dotted desert below. 

Little escapes a hawk's notice from this vantage point. With a 42" wingspan and sharp talons for hunting jackrabbits and packrats, the Harris's Hawk in at home in the desert.

Long-legged and elegantly feathered in charcoal grays and rufous reds, males and females look alike. 

Harris's Hawks are cooperative hunters. Teaming up with a mate, a lead hawk will flush a jackrabbit while the others chase it down. Teams of five hawks have proven to work best at this hunting technique.

This juvenile can only wait and watch. Too young to join the adults, he passes time over a Tucson, Arizona horse corral.

                                   Another juvenile sibling a few trees away also waits for the adults to return.

One adult Harris's Hawk has captured a medium-sized bird, is enjoying it and is not about to share it. 

Other than nesting time, few adult birds share their food resources with a mate. Quarreling and/or outright thievery is far more common in ownership disputes. 

From hummingbirds to eagles...sharing in not in a bird's nature.

Dining on a bird may be a treat for this Harris's Hawk...it's something special...savory...not the usual 
rats'n rabbits diet. 

Curiously though, the option of eating the bird in front of your mate may be satisfying for one, but, I'm assuming here, disturbing to the other. 

The hapless Harris's Hawk has little choice but to look away in disappointment, as the meal is plucked and plundered atop a pole overlooking a horse corral in Tucson.

Allan

Credit: Cornell Lab of Ornithology, All About Birds

Credit: The Sibley's Guide to Birds, Second Edition

Mexican Jay

You'll know they've arrived before you see them.

The highly social Mexican Jay is a noisy bird. Traveling in small family groups, they command your attention by their numbers and clamorous calls.

This band of about a dozen Mexican Jays arrived at the Santa Rita Lodge in Madera Canyon, Arizona on a routine stop to partake in the feast set out for birds.

The seed, suet and sugar-water buffet behind the Santa Rita Gift Shop attracts birds to this mountainside lodge in uncounted numbers.

The birders who line up to watch the birds could be counted, but no one has.

Mexican Jays are in the same family as Blue Jays found in Wisconsin all year long. Crows, Ravens and Magpies are close relatives.

In shades of blue and gray the Mexican Jay is slightly less colorful then the Blue Jay, yet still impressive in size and shape.

Gregarious by nature, they attract attention with their energetic darting, dashing and bouncing.

The family groups stay together for years. Males and females look alike with only the juveniles giving away their age.  The telltale white on the bill indicates an age of less than two years old. With time the bill will turn completely black.

Handouts from people are not their only resource. Living in pine/oak forests at higher elevations, they thrive on acorns and pine nuts stored for the winter. Along with insects and invertebrates they manage quite well without the people food.

Mexican Jays are resourceful and manage quite well. They can't be blamed for taking the low hanging fruit provided by humans. They are of Least Concern as to their survival in the foreseeable future.

That is not the case for far too many birds.

Allan

Credit: Cornell Lab of Ornithology, All About Birds
Credit: The Sibley's Guide to Birds
Credit: Wikipedia

Arizona Woodpecker

It's not difficult to find a woodpecker anywhere in the United States. They are widespread throughout North America, including the sapsuckers and flickers, which are also in the woodpecker family.

Uniquely though, the Arizona Woodpecker is much rarer. Barely reaching into Arizona from Mexico, you'll need to look a little harder to find the Arizona Woodpecker.

A good place to start your search is far southern Arizona at the higher elevations. A pine/oak forest with dead trees is a perfect spot to look. Woodpeckers need dead trees to supply the insect food they need. Insects and invertebrates hide under dead tree bark.

You might find an Arizona Woodpecker looking right back at you, too.

Bracing herself with stiff tail feathers, this female Arizona Woodpecker was searching with intense concentration. The image may seem to be sideways, but in fact she is hanging below the branch looking upward.  Upside down is no problem for a woodpecker.  With large feet and sharp claws she forages with ease.

Both sexes are similar in size and shape, but there is a small red patch on the back of the male's head.

Arizona Woodpeckers are not significantly different from many other species of woodpeckers with the obvious exception...they are brown and white rather than black and white. They stand out immediately for that one distinction alone.

                                                                                                                                                                                                      This looks to be a first-year juvenile. Adult-like in many ways...she just doesn't appear to be fully mature yet.

It takes a bit more effort to discover an Arizona Woodpecker...rare to the United States as they are, but somehow worth it.

There are 22 species of woodpeckers. I haven't seen them all yet, but therein lies one of the joys of birding...the search.

Allan

Credit: Cornell Lab of Ornithology, All About Birds
Credit: Sibley's Guide to Birds

(southwest) Northern Cardinal / Pyrrhuloxia

A bright red bird on a winter's day is a good omen for your soul.

Finely fashioned in red and black, the southwest Northern Cardinal looks surprisingly similar to the Northern Cardinal familiar to the eastern half of the United States. 

But, the southwest Northern Cardinal is larger, has a bushier crest and has a less-black face.

That's a trivial distinction when you see one sitting in a tree, but it's noteworthy for those who take more than a casual interest in birds.

They are a stately bird with a slightly stern appearance.

male Pyrrhuloxia

In the same family as the Northern Cardinal is the Pyrrhuloxia. He's similar in size and shape, but far less flamboyant. In shades of gray and red the male Pyrrhuloxia is impressive and shares a similar stately appearance. 

The Pyrrhuloxia lives at the far southern reaches of Arizona, Texas, New Mexico and most of old Mexico, too.

They thrive in hot and harsh arid lands.

female or juvenile Pyrrhuloxia

Startled at the camera's click this female Pyrrhuloxia stretches tall and thin to investigate the source of the sound. 

Always wary...
the cost of inattentiveness is life itself...all birds respond quickly to threatening sounds.

If this female Pyrrhuloxia looks a bit concerned...she is. She is incubating eggs in a paleverde tree. Not wanting to disturb her, I went about getting my pictures quickly, so she could get back to her motherly duties. The female Pyrrhuloxia is not nearly as colorful as the male. Her colors reflect her surrounds. It is quite likely she placed those blossoms around her nest as a means of camouflaging her yellow bill.

southwest Northern Cardinal

The amount of joy you experience at the sight of a bird varies from person to person. You can't assign a number to it. 

Still be grateful for the number of birds we have in our lives, as many species are declining. 

They could raise your spirits on a cold winter's day.

Allan

Credits: Sibley's Guide to Birds

Credit: Cornell Lab of Ornithology, All About Birds

Hummingbird Wishes

I wish to bring a little comfort into your life on these cold winter days and hummingbirds are all I have to offer. 

This Anna’s Hummingbird is wishing you warmth.  In violets and reds he may not be able to affect the weather in your part of the world, but he’s trying his best to help you. He brings you color.

He seems to be asking for a little hug, too.

A Costa’s Hummingbird reflects the sunlight you may also need. He may look a bit menacing, but at 0.1 ounce, he’s harmless.

Please accept his offer in brilliant shades of violets and blues.

He, too, is asking for a hug.  

Allan

Acorn Woodpecker

                        If you're like me, an Acorn Woodpecker will probably make you smile.

Acorn Woodpeckers are a medium size, mountain dwelling bird with an outsized birdsonality. They’re comical in manner and appearance with more than enough charm to keep you smiling. Often described as clown-faced, they suggest evolution has a sense of humor. 

They live in the forest, but not in every forest. Their range only covers parts of California, Arizona, New Mexico and Mexico. Oak and pine forests are their preferred habitat, especially the oak forests where acorns provide a primary food resource.

As woodpeckers, they exploit the dead and dying limbs of trees to chisel holes to make granaries. They stuff acorns into the round holes for their winter food supply. Some insects are stored for future consumption, too. These granary trees are valuable to the Acorn Woodpecker’s survival, so they guard them closely.

Making granaries allows Acorn Woodpeckers to remain in one location from year to year, thus insuring a territory with abundant resources. They have a complex social structure in which mate sharing, group sex and infanticide all coexist to benefit the group as a whole.

The sexes look alike…almost. Both sexes have red heads, but the male’s red extends further forward. The male is on the left.  The other two are females. 

Hanging on trees and poles, they use their stiff tail feathers for support. 

Funny looking or not, the Acorn Woodpeckers invite you to let them entertain you.

Take the bait! 

As with any bird, the brief investment in time spent pays off with a smile. You could be measurably poorer without it.

Allan

Credit: Cornell Lab of Ornithology, All About Birds; Carly Hodes

Credit: The Sibley Guide to Birds 2^nd Edition

American Kestrel

         An American Kestrel watches for movements below. From this tall utility pole he sees everything.

It’s morning in Tucson, Arizona. The sun has been up for a couple of hours and the large insects that kestrels prey upon are rising. Insects make up a sizable percentage of an American Kestrel’s diet. They hunt small mammals such as mice and voles, too, but large insects are more plentiful.

Grasshoppers, butterflies and spiders are preferred.

American Kestrels are not big.  For comparison they are about the size of a Mourning Dove and so much like doves, they can be confusing.

They both rest on power lines along rural roadways, but the doves are far more common. 

American Kestrels are the smallest of the North American falcons.

Kestrels hunt during the day. You might find one hovering into the wind…fixed in place, yet still flying. It’s quite likely there is a food opportunity below. 

Because birds can see in the ultraviolet spectrum, they can detect the glowing urine trails left by voles as they crisscross the ground. Knowing where your food travels is a big advantage when hunting.

American Kestrels don’t enjoy top predator status, so they too are hunted.  They fall prey to hawks, owls and even crows. Therefore, it’s important to be vigilant, especially when you hunt from on high.

Allan

Credit: Cornell Lab of Ornithology, All About Birds, The Sibley’s Guide to Birds