Showing posts with label common raven. Show all posts
Showing posts with label common raven. Show all posts

Friday, May 18, 2018

More from Mount Lemmon


Twice this past week I birded the Upper Sabino Canyon Trail which is at the end of Turkey Run Road in Summerhaven. It's a bit different than Incinerator Ridge or Rose Canyon which are my favorite birding spots on Mount Lemmon. Upper Sabino Canyon Trail is almost another 1000 feet in elevation and there you find Aspens and Douglas Firs. The Douglas Firs are magnificent. You get the feeling of standing inside Mother Nature's Cathedral. They appear to reach the heavens they are so tall.

Both days the predominant bird was the Red Faced Warbler. They seemed to be everywhere.They are easier to find than many of the warblers since they prefer foraging in trees and brush less than 15 feet. And, they often don't seem to mind people around.

Here are a few photos from those two trips:


Brown Creeper

Cordilleran Flycatcher



House Wren

Pine Siskin

Raven

Red Faced Warbler

Red Faced Warbler

Spotted Towhee

Townsend's Warbler

Turkey Vulture

Yellow Rumped Warbler

Wednesday, May 16, 2018

Las Cienegas National Conservation Area


One of my favorite places in Southern Arizona is Las Cienegas -- the home of Empire Ranch -- and about 50 western movies of old.

It's a great place for sparrows, kingbirds, and meadowlarks. They're everywhere. There is the Cottonwood Pond which can attract some rarities (Black Bellied Whistling Duck and Rosette Spoonbill to name a couple).  It also has a wonderful riparian wetland called Empire Gulch. And it's not just birds. Over the years I've seen Pronghorn, Deer, Javelina, Coyote, Rattlesnakes, Jackrabbits, and Black Tailed Prairie Dogs. 

Here are some photos from my trip earlier this week:


Belted Kingfisher


Black Tailed Prairie Dog

Pronghorn

Raven

Red Tailed Hawk


Vermillion Flycatcher

Thursday, July 20, 2017

Mount Lemmon after the Fire: Part III



Christine and I were on Incinerator Ridge for about an hour and a half. And almost the entire time we could hear two Ravens squawking. At one point one of the Ravens was creating sounds neither of us have heard before. One of the calls was very low in pitch so I couldn't hear it at all. Another was a knock-knock-knock that at first I thought was a woodpecker. Christine thinks that it was a young Raven who couldn't find or hear his (her) parents because it seemed distressed. We watched the young bird as it made several different calls. Eventually the mother came around and the two flew off together.

After during a little research on the subject, fifteen to 30 categories of vocalization have been recorded for this species, most of which are used for social interaction. Calls recorded include alarm calls, chase calls, and flight calls. The species has a distinctive, deep, resonant prruk-prruk-prruk call, which to experienced listeners is unlike that of any other corvid. Its very wide and complex vocabulary includes a high, knocking toc-toc-toc, a dry, grating kraa, a low guttural rattle and some calls of an almost musical nature. So I guess what we heard was normal -- even though some of those calls we had never heard before.

Here is a photo of that young Raven:



Saturday, November 14, 2015

Santa Cruz Flats: Other Birding Finds

In addition to the raptors, there were other nice photos ops including a Black Bellied Plover. It is one of the most reliable places to find the Eurasian Collard Dove (if that's something you are interested in). Here are a few photos from my trip last week:


Black Bellied Plover


Burrowing Owl

Eurasian Collard Dove

Great Blue Heron

Killdeer

Lark Bunting

Common Raven

Rock Wren

Wednesday, July 22, 2015

Birding Mount Lemmon - VIII

And the last of Birding Mount Lemmon:


Black Throated Gray Warbler

Yellow Eyed Junco feeding her young

Blue Gray Gnatcatcher

Common Raven

Western Bluebird

Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Birding Mount Lemmon Again and Again

Some more photos from a quick trip up Mount Lemmon this morning:

Abert's Squirrel

Stellar Jay

Common Raven

Black Headed Grosbeak

Cliff Chipmunk

Red Tailed Hawk