Critters

Last night, one of the dogs discovered a kingsnake under on of my planters outside of the patio. I pulled him away from it and walked elsewhere while he did his business. Tomorrow would be soon enough to check out if it was dead or had slithered away.

When we went out this morning to inspect the snake, it was still there – dead. Bob took a pair of garden tongs I use for handling cacti and tossed the snake up into the west part of the lot. Something will dispose of it, we supposed.

We supposed correctly. A bit later in the afternoon, a pair of Turkey Buzzards were flying low over the area while another landed over in the area where the snake carcass had been tossed.

We did not actually see the buzzards removing the snake, but an inspection of the area where it got tossed showed no sign of snake remains. Desert nature at work. Click on the images to enlarge.

I saw this lizard clinging to the patio screen outside today. I walked out to get a photo of the little red-headed guy. We later tried to look up on the Arizona Lizard website, but couldn’t find a match. It looks like the spiny lizards we see around here once in a while, but this is the first time we have seen a red-faced spiny lizard. Click on the image to enlarge.

Update: Hat tip to Glenn B who points out in comments that this is likely a female spiny lizard whose head has turned red for breeding season.

Neither male nor female of the species cardinalis cardinalis has a good camouflage scheme for the desert. This female cardinal was perched in a mesquite tree adjacent to Damsel’s bird feeders. As you can see, her camo isn’t exactly something that blends in well with the desert’s spring colors. Regardless, their repeated trips to the feeders out back, speak to their survivability in our part of the desert.

I was using my Canon SX40HS Power Shot camera with zoom set to near maximum in “AUTO” mode. Damsel gets most of the good shots we post here, but once in a while, I get lucky. Click on the image to enlarge.

When we finished walking the dogs after breakfast this morning, I saw a hawk perched on the roof of the neighbors’ house. I took the dogs in, grabbed my telephoto lens and went back out to take a photo of the bird. Shortly after I took the photo of the hawk perched, it took off and flew down toward the wash west of the house.

I consulted Stokes’ Field Guide to Birds and concluded that this bird is a red tailed hawk. The first entry in the guide indicated that red tails have “extremely variable plumage.” Red tails are also the most commonly seen hawk and range throughout most of the contiguous states and Mexico.

Click on the image to enlarge and on the link to see the perched hawk.