Curve-billed Thrasher

Scientific Name: Toxostoma curvirostre

Population Estimate: Unknown, but Least Concern status

Range / Habitat: Year round in open areas of Sonoran and Chihuahuan Deserts of southwestern US and Mexico.

Field Notes: Large passerine with characteristic long body and tail of a thrasher. Accentuated, long down-curved bill. Brown overall plumage. Orange eye.

Personal Notes: Common site in Sonora Desert Museum outside Tucson AZ.

Mexican Jay

Scientific Name: Aphelocoma ultramarina

Population Estimate: Unknown, but Least Concern status

Range / Habitat: Year-round in montane mixed oak forests in northern Mexico and up into Arizona and New Mexico.

Field Notes: Non-crested jay with blue head, wings and tail. Greyish back. Dingy white underparts.

Personal Notes: Patience was rewarded with this photo by Richard at the Cherry Lodge picnic site in the Apache-Sitgreaves NF in Arizona.

Gambel's Quail

Scientific Name: Callipepla gambelii

Range / Habitat: Year-round in the Sonoran, Mohave, and Chihuahuan deserts of the southwestern US and Mexico, below about 5,500 feet elevation.

Field Notes: Similar in appearance to the California Quail, though Gambel's has white breast with black belly and ranges do not overlap.

Personal Notes: A surprise find near the Clifton mines at the southern edge of Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests in Arizona.

Acorn Woodpecker

Scientific Name: Melanerpes formicivorus

Population Estimate: Unknown, but Least Concern status

Range / Habitat: Year round in oak and mixed oak-conifer forests on slopes and mountains in the western US down into Mexico and Central America.

Field Notes: Unmistakable in range. As Cornell's All About Birds puts it: "Reminiscent of a troupe of wide-eyed clowns."

Personal Notes: Frequently seen in Ramsey Canyon Preserve, Hereford AZ. Later we found a large group at West Fork SP near Sedona. They were all calling softly to one another as they settled down in several large trees for the night.

Chihauhaun Raven

Scientific Name: Corvus cryptoleucus

Population Estimate: Unknown, but Least Concern status

Range / Habitat: Year-round in desert grasslands of southwestern US and northern Mexico.

Field Notes: Intermediate between Common Raven and American Crow. The size is approximately that of a crow, but the head is unmistakably raved-shaped as in the photo above. The call is the best differentiation, however.

Personal Notes: First heard, then seen, at Ramsey Canyon Preserve in Hereford, AZ. The photograph was taken later in town.

Greater Roadrunner

Scientific Name: Geococcyx californianus

Population Estimate: Unknown, but Least Concern status

Range / Habitat: Year-round in hot, shrubby expanses of the southwestern US and northern Mexico. They can also be found in open country with patches of shrubs or small trees almost as far east as the Mississippi River.

Field Notes: Unmistakable in range.

Personal Notes: Richard found it for me! The Roadrunner! Beep-beep!

Cactus Wren

Scientific Name: Campylorhynchus brunneicapillus

Population Estimate: Unknown, but Least Concern status

Range / Habitat: Year-round in desert southwest US and northern Mexico. Requires the presence of spiny cacti.

Field Notes: Large wren with light breast, spotted dark. Long white eye stripe. Brown, barred back and tail.

Personal Notes: A conspicuous resident at the Sonora Desert Museum in Tucson AZ. Later we enjoyed these birds on our hotel grounds in San Jose del Cabo.

Gila Woodpecker

Scientific Name: Melanerpes uropygialis

Population Estimate: Unknown, but Least Concern status

Range / Habitat: Year-round in southern Arizona, the Baja Peninsula, and western Mexico. Favors arid habitats with large cacti or scattered trees,

Field Notes: Medium-sized woodpecker, all brown head and chest, wings barred black and white. Male with red spot on forehead.

Personal Notes: Seen at Sonora Desert Museum outside Tucson AZ.

Sharp-shinned Hawk

Scientific Name: Accipiter striatus

Population Estimate: Unknown, but Least Concern status

Range / Habitat: Year-round in forested areas throughout much of the United States. Summers into Canada, winters into Mexico. In winter will often be found in treed urban areas.

Field Notes: Small, long-tailed hawks with relatively small heads. The tail tends to be square-tipped and may show a notch at the tip. Cooper's Hawk similar in range and coloration, but larger.

Personal Notes: Great find, and photo, by Richard in Burlington, Vermont on a cold December day.

Snowy Owl

Scientific Name: Nyctea scandiaca

Population Estimate: Unknown but Least Concern status. Not globally threatened, but uncommon to scarce.

Range / Habitat: Summers in open Arctic tundra from near tree-line to edge of polar seas. Winter irruptions to lower latitudes were found in marshes and dunes.

Field Notes: Large white owl with small yellow eyes, rudimentary ear-tufts normally invisible. Male entirely white, female and juveniles with brown barring above and below.

Personal Notes: A bird that eluded us for over four years. Finally on a winter walk in Acadia National Park (during a extensive East Coast irruption year, after we looked unsuccessfully the weekend before) I said "wouldn't it be funny if that log were a Snowy Owl….." Thankfully, Richard thought to actually look through the binoculars!

Tufted Titmouse

Scientific Name: Baeolophus bicolor

Range / Habitat: Year-round in lowland, mature deciduous and mixed woods of the eastern United States.

Field Notes: Large, short-crested and long-tailed tit. Grey upperparts, white underparts including check. Rufous flanks. Large, black, beady eye.

Personal Notes: A wonderful find on a wonderful day with friends in New Hampshire. We had a picture for years from Minnesota that we debated about being a Tufted Titmouse. This time we were sure! We then found this bird at the far western edge of his range, in Fontenelle Forest in Omaha, Nebraska.