Birds seen in Wickenburg, AZ. This is a slideshow, click images to advance. The list includes:
All images taken from our patch of land near Casandro Wash, Wickenburg, Arizona.
Damsel and I did some yard chores this morning consisting of clean-up of a pile of cut-down bush branches we left for “later” a couple of weeks ago. We finished that and moved on to pruning some low-hanging foliage on the “Musical” mesquite tree out front. We also pruned some “suckers” from the citrus “orchard” (one orange, one lemon tree).
Later in the day, I was out by the orchard 😉 and spotted a young Curve Billed Thrasher that was caught in a net that Damsel has covering her little orange tree. The net was placed there precisely to keep critters out, but somehow, this little guy found his way in and tangled itself in the mesh.
I had my camera with me, but placed it on the ground to effect a release of the bird if I could, therefore no pix of the rescue, just the one above of a similar bird at our feeder I took earlier.
I reached under the net and got a grip on the bird; it didn’t like me doing so and squawked the whole time I gently held it while getting out my Sog knife to cut through some of the entangled netting. After a minute or so, I managed to free the bird which had minimal injury as far as I could tell. It flew a low trajectory to a nearby cholla where it perched.
I’m glad I found the little guy before one of the local predators did. Damsel and I discussed replacing the net with some wire screen mesh which is less likely to snare the critters.
We get a lot of birds at the feeders out back. There is a pair of finch feeders plus fixtures where we usually have a bird block (shown) and bell (just below the block) for the critters to be fed and for us to watch them. Damsel gets most of the good pix, but once in a while, I score a good one, too.
I managed to catch a cactus wren working on the seed block just as a male cardinal lit on the top of the feeder cage. I took this image with my Canon EOS Rebel SL1 and the 75-300mm lens set to 180mm, ISO 100, 1/512sec and F7.1. Click on the image to enlarge.
There are literally dozens of these Sylvilagus audubonii on and around the property. I photographed this one as it was feeding up in the wash behind the RV drive. It paused feeding long enough to strike this pose as it became alert to my presence when I pointed the telephoto lens some 30 feet away. It resumed its feeding shortly thereafter.
From Wikipedia:
The desert cottontail is found throughout the western United States from eastern Montana to western Texas, and in northern and central Mexico. Westwards its range extends to central Nevada and southern California and Baja California. It is found at heights of up to 2,000 m (6,600 ft). It is particularly associated with the dry near-desert grasslands of the American southwest; though it is also found in less arid habitats such as pinyon-juniper forest.
The desert cottontail is quite similar in appearance to the European rabbit, though its ears are larger and are more often carried erect. It is also social among its peers, often gathering in small groups to feed. The desert cottontail uses burrows made by rodents rather than making its own. Like all cottontail rabbits, the desert cottontail has a rounded tail with white fur on the underside which is visible as it runs away. It is a light grayish-brown in color, with almost white fur on the belly. Adults are 33 to 43 cm (13 to 17 in) long and weigh up to 1.5 kg (3.3 lb). The ears are 8 to 10 cm (3.1 to 3.9 in) long, and the hind feet are large, about 7.5 cm (3.0 in) in length). There is little sexual dimorphism, but females tend to be larger than the males, but have much smaller home ranges, about 4,000 square metres (1 acre) compared with about 60,000 square metres (15 acres) for a male.
Camera: Canon EOS Rebel SL1, 1/400s, F5.6, ISO 200, 300mm focal length.
The above is a Flash® slideshow depicting some of the flowers and other things we see in our little corner of the desert during the spring months. All photos taken on or near our Wickenburg, Arizona homestead. Click on the image to advance (this is 1 of 6 frames).
Slideshow subject matter: Prickly Pear Flower, Ocotillo Flowers and buds, Tiny Mesquite Flower Clusters, Lemon Blossom, Cholla Flower and one Pituophis catenifer . . .
While we were walking the dogs this afternoon, Damsel called me over by the mesquite tree across the road to show me a swarm of bees that were hanging from a branch. I already had my camera and long lens since I was going to take a photo of a project with the travel trailer. I took the photo of the bees in the top image.
I called one of our neighbors to see if he knew if there was a bee keeping service in town. He just happened to have a friend that kept bees and would be interested in harvesting this swarm.
Shortly after dusk, they showed up with all the equipment, bee suits and whatever and proceeded to knock the swarm, queen bee and all out of the tree and into a bucket with a lid (of course). The whole process took about half an hour, but the bees are gone, to our neighbors’ and our mutual relief. They have kids and we have dogs, neither that mix well with a beehive in the vicinity.
Click on either image to enlarge.
Prior to setting up the tools and dumpster on the driveway for some yard work today, this smallish Sonoran Gopher Snake (Pituophis catenifer affinis) appeared on the driveway near the garage door that I had opened shortly before. It seemed to be headed toward the garage, but when I called Damsel out for this photo op, the snake suddenly decided to head off to the rosemary patch giving her a loud hiss before disappearing from view.
These snakes can be up to six feet in length as adults, but this one was barely two feet long. It had to be a youngster in snake years.
We like having these guys around the area because they prey on rats and other undesirable desert rodents. Sonoran Gopher Snakes are plentiful in the southwest. We have seen as many as ten of these in the five years of living here and only one rattlesnake, which I think is a good ratio. Also, only one Gila Monster sighting.
