Mount Lemmon Yet Again

Note:  Yesterday, someone from Botswana visited our Blog.  Botswana is just one of 18 countries in Africa that visit our site; a total of 124 countries around the world. And, even though there is so much "unrest,"  in the world, sometimes someone from Israel and someone from Iraq, or someone from China and someone from Taiwan, visit our Blog on the same day - maybe even the same time.  There is one thing people around the world have in common: a love of nature. 

On to today's post:

I wanted to take one more pass up Mount Lemmon before the migrants leave to see if I could get a better MacGillivray's Warbler photo, but I may not have made it in time.

As usual, I did get some nice photos even though none were that little warbler I wanted:

Cliff Chipmunk eating a nut.

Lesser Goldfinch among the wildflowers

Red Shafted Northern Flicker

Short Tailed Hawk

Townsend's Warbler

Western Bluebird

Yellow Rumped Warbler

Zone Tailed Hawk

Pena Blanca Lake, Arizona

And another day at Pena Blanca Lake:

zone tailed hawk

zone tailed hawk

zone tailed hawk

turkey vulture

gray hawk

Raptors: XII

Another raptor found only in Arizona is the Common Black Hawk. I am not quite sure why the name "Common" Black Hawk. It certainly isn't very common with such limited distribution. This one I photographed at Turkey Creek in Araivipa Canyon (Galiuro Mountains). The Black Hawk perches in trees looking for amphibians to eat, so is never far from a creek or stream. It can be distinguished from the Zone Tail (next photo) by its relatively long yellow legs and much broader wings.

Common Black Hawk 

 The Zone Tail Hawk at rest looks very similar to the Black Hawk. However, since the Zone Tail Hawk hunts birds and small mammals from the air (and so is usually in the air)  it is easier to distinguish by its longer tail and narrower wings. Also because its legs are shorter, and tail longer, the legs don't trail to the end of the tail as it does with the Black Hawk. This photo was taken as I was eating lunch in our oasis.

Zone Tail Hawk