Azure Gate Landscapes

Today, I thought I would share with you some of the photos taken at The Azure Gate over the years: The Moon, the stars, the sunsets, the fires, the monsoon, the rainbows, the snow in the mountains, and the snow down below.

Azure Gate Moon

Azure Gate Stars

Azure Gate Sunset

The Aspen Fire

Azure Gate Monsoon

Azure Gate Rainbow

The Snow in the Catalinas

Snow at the Azure Gate

Sharp Shinned in the Aleppo Pine

This morning as I went out to get the newspaper I startled a pair of juvenile Sharp Shinned Hawks in one of our large Aleppo Pine trees.  It is breeding season, so I assume that one was a male and one was a female. (No way of knowing for sure). So, the first photo is one of the pair. The second photo is the other.

Here is a front view photo of the second, which helped me identify them:

Cooper's and Sharp Shinned Hawks have very similar plumage. While the Cooper's is five inches larger, size is not always easy as a distinguishing feature. Interestingly, the male of both species is smaller than the female. Therefore, a male Coopers may not be much larger than a female Sharp Shinned. I believe this to be a Sharp Shinned because the streaks on the breast are coarser and more rufous in color. The head seems a little smaller, no neck, and the bill seems shorter. Since distinguishing between the Sharp Shinned and the Coopers is difficult at best I always try to be sure I have identified them correctly. In preparing for the blog, I found a wonderful website from Cornell University (The Cornell Lab of Ornithology). I have copied their methodology for identifying one versus the other:

• With all plumages, Cooper's Hawks are barrel shaped, with the width of the chest fairly close in size to the width of the hips and the largest portion of the chest about halfway down the body. Sharp-shinned Hawks, on the other hand, are widest at the shoulder and get distinctly narrower down to the hips.
  
• The size of the head relative to the body can be a reliable field mark. It isn't always easy to see, and hawks hold their heads in different positions that can affect how big the head looks, but usually a Sharp-shinned Hawk's head looks small, and a Cooper's Hawk's head looks large. Sharp-shinned Hawks appear short-necked; Cooper's Hawks appear tall.
  
• Cooper's Hawks are larger than Sharp-shinned Hawks, but size can be difficult to judge if you see the bird in isolation, and there is wide variability in size from one individual to the next and between larger females and smaller males in both species. Furthermore, large female Sharp-shinned Hawks can be nearly as large as small male Cooper's Hawks. Generally, however, size can be a reliable field mark, especially if the bird is very large or very small.
  
• If you can see the front of the hawk and it is a juvenile hawk, the thickness and color of vertical streaks is fairly reliable. As can be seen on the bottom of the Accipiter Photo Gallery page, there is some overlap between the species, but this is pretty unusual. Very thick, rufous stripes that extend down the lower belly are a good indication of Sharp-shinned Hawk, and very thin, dark streaks that fade away on the lower belly are a good indication of Cooper's Hawk.
  
• Differences in leg size can be helpful for distinguishing between the hawks. Very thin legs are diagnostic for Sharp-shinned, and very thick legs are diagnostic for Cooper's Hawk. This field mark requires some judgment, though, and sometimes it is hard to tell if the legs are thick or thin.
  
• If you can see the back of the hawk, and it is an adult, then the color of the nape is a reliable field mark. Cooper's Hawks have a pale nape with a clear contrast to a dark cap. Juveniles of both species can show a pale nape, however.
  
• The rounded versus square tail is reliable if you can see all the tail feathers and they are held straight. The tail feathers of Sharp-shinned Hawks are the same length, whereas the outer tail feathers are shorter than the inner feathers on Cooper's Hawks. However, when seen from the back, if a Cooper's Hawk holds its tail tightly closed, the longer feathers can completely block the shorter feathers from view, making the tail look square. Furthermore, a Sharp-shinned Hawk's tail can look rounded if the feathers are spread. New feathers growing in can further complicate the issue.

You can get more information from Cornell at their website: 

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/pfw/AboutBirdsandFeeding/accipiterIDtable.htm

Saguaro National Park Revisited - III

Also on our hike through Saguaro National Park we happened to find a few birds willing to sit for a photo:

Verdin, 

found only in the southernmost part of California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas

Phainopepla or Silky Flycatcher,

found only in the southernmost part of California and Arizona

Curved Bill Thrasher,

found only in Southern Arizona, New Mexico, and West Texas

Raven

found in the Western United States and throughout Canada

Saguaro National Park Revisited - II

Today, the Antelope Jackrabbit. The Antelope Jackrabbit is found only in Arizona and Northwestern Mexico. I show you the first photo so you can get a clearer idea of the Antelope Jackrabbit' tail vs the Black Tail Jackrabbit. My experience has been that the Antelope Jackrabbit tends to be whiter -- or lighter in overall coloration. It also lacks the black around the ears. We saw several Antelope Jackrabbits on our hike through Saguaro National Park. 

Saguaro National Park Revisited

With Saguaro National Park so close to us, it is a favorite spot when we don't have much time. Yesterday, we only had a "continental" breakfast at 6:45 so by 7:30 we were out the door and on our way. Early morning is prime time for wildlife viewing. We took the seldom used "Shantz Trail" where we often see jackrabbits, coyotes, or deer. Yesterday, it was jackrabbits; both the Antelope Jackrabbit and the Black Tail Jackrabbit. I will start with the Black Tail Jackrabbit today. As you can see from the first photo, there is a short black tail. This is the most distinguishing characteristic in identifying the Black Tail from the Antelope Jackrabbit. Both are approximately the same size: two feet in length and up to six pounds. The Antelope is slightly larger, but in the wild not enough to distinguish. Black Tails do not hibernate in the winter. They remain in their home territory of about 1 square mile. They are prime prey for eagles, hawks, coyotes, foxes, bobcats, and mountain lions. In the second photo you will see how willing he was to "sit" for me. Once he got comfortable with us standing there watching him, he decided to continue eating. So, in the third photo, there he is eating prickly pear cactus, pulling and tugging on the prickly pear pad between its long, sharp, thorns.

Back to Woodpeckers one more Day

To finish up with Woodpeckers, we go first to Turkey Creek on the East Side of the Rincon Mountains in Southern Arizona for the Red Naped Sapsucker. I have also found and photographed the Red Naped Sapsucker in Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge, Washington; the Galiuro Mountains in Southern Arizona, and in Ramsey Canyon in the Huachuca Mountains of Southern Arizona. The Red Naped Sapsucker is found in the Western US and Mexico, wintering in Mexico with summers in Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, and the northwest. They are very similar in appearance to the Yelow-bellied Sapsucker of the east except they have a little more red and a little less white in their plumage. They typically nest in dead trees in mixed forests. They bore holes in living trees to get sap and any insects that may be present.

Red Naped Sapsucker: Turkey Creek, Arizona

The Pileated Woodpecker is the largest of the woodpeckers at 16.5 inches. It is found primarily east of the Missouri/Mississippi Rivers swinging over to Western Canada and back down into Idaho, Washington, and Oregon. It lives in mature forests feeding primarily on carpenter ants, wood boring beetle larvae, fruit, and nuts.

Pileated Woodpecker: Colorado State Forest

More from Patagonia

Often while hiking through Patagonia Sonoita Creek Preserve we come across deer -- usually Coues Whitetail Deer (a subspecies of the White Tail Deer). The Coues is pronounced "cows" named after the ornithologist and surgeon Elliot Coues, whose book "Fur-Bearing Animals" 1877 was (is) a classic on the identification and description of mammals. As we were hiking this time, we saw a Coues down by the Creek. Once she saw us she headed up the embankment on the other side. I suspected that she would return and positioned myself further down the creek. She not only came back to the creek but started following the creek toward me. Finally at about 25 feet she noticed me. After a minute or so of staring at each other she decided to walk the other direction -- still in the creek.

Female Coues White Tail Deer

On the way back from Patagonia, we go through the Wine Country town of Sonoita. Fields of grass surround Sonoita and make for wonderful Pronghorn terrain. Although more apt to see Pronghorn early or late in the day, six were very near the road mid-afternoon, a very pleasant surprise. Here are a pair of bucks:

Pronghorn males