Round Tail Ground Squirrel

Round Tailed Ground Squirrels are very cute. No doubt about it. They are also very destructive. They dig holes underneath cactus. Several holes. Lots of entries and exits to escape potential predators. The problem is that these holes tend to dry out the roots of the cactus eventually killing the cactus. Round Tail Ground Squirrels are "unaffectionately" called "Pack Rats." While they are squirrels and not rats, they do collect everything -- anything is sight to put around their "house" creating an unsightly mess.

But they are cute as can be.

Round Tail Ground Squirrel

Roadrunner II

Continuing with the Roadrunner. The name "roadrunner" comes from the bird's habit of racing down roads in front of moving vehicles and then darting to safety in the brush. It can "run" at speeds up to 20 mph.

Here this Roadrunner was cooling down by spreading out his wings. He wasn't disturbed by me and allowed some photos:

Roadrunner

Roadrunner, Beep, Beep

Back to my alphabetical series on my "5" Star Photos we come to the Roadrunner. The Roadrunner is a fun bird to watch. He walks three or four steps, stops, then raises his tail. Then three or four more steps, stop, raise tail ......

We have them around our property and I have seen them catch very fast lizards, so their awkwardness  is deceiving.

Sometimes they'll run away when they see me, but other times they'll hang around and even pose for a photo:

Roadrunner

Sweetwater Wetlands, Tucson, Arizona

Finally a swing through Sweetwater Wetlands produced a variety of birds including an assortment of ducks including the less frequently seen ruddy duck pied billed grebes, ladderback and gila woodpeckers, verdins, button's vireos, black phoebe, common yellowthroat, and sora. The last three I have photos of although the yellowthroat and sora didn't turn out as well as I had hoped:

Black Phoebe

Common Yellowthroat

Sora

Santa Cruz Flats, Arizona

Up Next: Santa Cruz Flats -- or as Christine says "The Alternate Universe." Santa Cruz Flats is halfway between Tucson and Phoenix and quite nondescript. Half of the area is farmed with cotton or turf. The other half is barren wasteland (or appears so anyway).

It is well know by birders though, providing a wintering wonderland for raptors and -- oddly enough, shorebirds. Yes, shorebirds that flock the flooded fields.

On the farmland I found 7 Crested Caracaras, which are members of the Falcon Family, although in behavior more like Vultures.

Crested Caracara

Crested Caracaras

Also in the farmlands, I was a bit surprised to see three Snow Geese:

Snow Geese

 And, in the "wasteland" I was happy to find a pair of Burrowing Owls:

Burrowing Owls

Burrowing Owls

Ironwood National Monument

Ironwood National Monument near Marana, Arizona is an area that I have not explored. So off I went with Christine and some guests for a scenic tour and hike.  The landscape is fascinating with the mountains, saguaros, and ironwood trees. The ironwood trees are the oldest trees in Arizona at 1500 years. 

Ragged Top Mountain is the biological and geological crown jewel of the national monument. Several endangered and threatened species live here, including the Nichols turk’s head cactus and the lesser long-nosed bat. The national monument also contains habitat for the cactus ferruginous pygmy owl. The desert bighorn sheep dwelling in the region are the last viable population indigenous to the Tucson basin. The area holds abundant rock art sites and other archaeological objects of scientific interest. Humans have inhabited the area for more than 5,000 years. More than 200 sites from the prehistoric Hohokam period (600 A.D. to 1440 A.D.) have been recorded in the area. 

The Bighorn Sheep are lambing now, so I resisted the temptation to find them. I'll wait until April when lambing season is over and see if I can find them.

The hike we took toward Ragged Top Mountain ended with a Bull standing in the middle of the trail and not wanting to move. We were ready to return to our car and continue on our way, so we turned around.

During our drive we came across an abandoned homestead, a Harris Hawk, Red Tailed Hawk, Gila Woodpeckers, a Loggerhead Shrike and a few other birds. Here are some of the day's photos:

Ironwood National Monument, Arizona

Old Abandon Homestead

Harris Hawk

Red Tailed Hawk

Gila Woodpecker

Loggerhead Shrike

Blocking the trail

Madera Canyon

It was a good day hiking, birding, and photographing in Madera Canyon. Finding birds and photographing birds are two different activities. We saw several Canyon Wrens, Dark Eyed Juncos, Bridled Titmouse, Acorn Woodpecker -- oh, and of course Mexican Jays. Those attempts to photograph weren't successful. 

However, the Great Find was a Red Breasted Sapsucker -- which I was able to photograph. The RBS is rare to Arizona. It lives primarily on the Pacific Coast from Alaska to Southern California. But this beautify male seemed to want to be photographed as evidence that he made the trip to Arizona. Also photographed was a nice Hutton's Vireo:

Red Breasted Sapsucker

Hutton's Vireo