Bushtit

Scientific Name: Psaltriparus minimus

Population Estimate: Unknown, but Least Concern status

Range / Habitat: Year-round in shrubs and thickets of western North America into northern Mexico.

Field Notes: Plain brown-and-gray songbirds with a long tail. Often in flocks, moving continuously and making soft chips and twitters

Personal Notes: First seen at Petrified Forest NP, later photographed at Joshua Tree NP.

Canyon Towhee

Scientific Name: Pyrgisoma fuscum

Population Estimate: Unknown, but Least Concern status

Range / Habitat: Year-round in rocky, arid scrubland of the southwestern US and Mexico.

Field Notes: Large, long-tailed sparrow frequently found on ground, particularly in parking lots picking bugs off of cars. All brown with rufous cap and under tail.

Personal Notes: Our last Arizona bird, found just before leaving Sedona after hiking Bear Mountain.

Juniper Titmouse

Scientific Name: Baeolophus ridgwayi

Population Estimate: Unknown, but Least Concern status

Range / Habitat: Year-round in pinyon-juniper woodlands of the Great Basin / southwestern US.

Field Notes: Small, all-grey bird with small tuft to the head and beady black eye.

Personal Notes: Amazing photo by Richard in Arizona.

Costa's Hummingbird

Scientific Name: Calypte costae

Population Estimate: Unknown, but Least Concern status

Range / Habitat: Year-round in desert and arid areas of the Baja Peninsula of Mexico, extending inland and up into southwestern US in summer.

Field Notes: Green upper parts and grey underparts. Male with iridescent violet face and gorget, which can appear black in places. Small, straight bill.

Personal Notes: Seen at the Sonora Desert Museum aviary.

Anna's Hummingbird

Scientific Name: Calypte anna

Population Estimate: Unknown, but Least Concern status

Range / Habitat: Year-round in wooded, savannah, and urban areas along the Pacific coast of the US and extending into the southwestern US. In summer will extend up into Canada.

Field Notes: Green upper parts and grey underparts. Males with iridescent pink head and throat. Females overall duller, with few reddish feathers at throat as above. Short, straight bill. Costa's Hummingbird similar with range overlap but males with purple gorget, not pink.

Personal Notes: First spotted in urban Seattle and then later photographed in California.

Harris's Hawk

Scientific Name: Parabuteo unicinctus

Population Estimate: Unknown, but Least Concern status

Range / Habitat: Year-round in arid desert and savannah in southeastern US, Mexico and Central America, and much of South America.

Field Notes: Medium to large hawk, deep brown overall, white rump and under tail and white tip to dark tail. Legs and bare face skin yellow. Juvenile mottled as in bottom photo.

Personal Notes: A common sight in our travels in southeastern Arizona

Hutton's Vireo

Scientific Name: Vireo huttoni

Population Estimate: Unknown, but Least Concern status

Range / Habitat: Year-rould in forested areas in along the US Pacific coast, southwestern US and northern Mexico.

Field Notes: Small active bird, greenish gray above and below, white eye-ring broken above eye and two white wing bars.

Personal Notes: Trust us when we say the above bird had those features. This flitty creature was seen in the southern end of the Apache-Sitgreaves NF in Arizona.

Phainopepla

Scientific Name: Phainopepla nitens

Population Estimate: Unknown, but Least Concern status

Range / Habitat: Year-round in arid habitats of the southwestern US and northern Mexico. In summers extends north into riparian woodlands, in winters clusters in deserts areas of US (particularly Sonoran) and a variety of arid habitats in Mexico.

Field Notes: Long-tailed, crested songbird with red eye. Male all black, female all grey.

Personal Notes: Seen outside the Sonora Desert Museum near Tucson AZ then later in Joshua Tree National Park.

Pyrrhuloxia

Scientific Name: Cardinalis sinuatus

Population Estimate: Unknown, but Least Concern status

Range / Habitat: Year-round in arid scrubland of southwestern US and northern Mexico.

Field Notes: "The cardinal of the desert," but grey plumage tinged with red.

Personal Notes: Seen in the San Pedro River Riparian Area near Hereford AZ.

Verdin

Scientific Name: Auriparus flaviceps

Population Estimate: Unknown, but Least Concern status

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

Field Notes: Small, active bird with grey body, yellow face, small rufous shoulder patch.

Personal Notes: Quite a task to photograph in the Sonora Desert Museum outside Tucson AZ but we later got better opportunities in Joshua Tree National Park.

Crissal Thrasher

Scientific Name: Toxostoma crissale

Population Estimate: Unknown, but Least Concern status

Range / Habitat: Year-round in desert washes and riparian thickets of the American Southwest and central Mexico.

Field Notes: Large, all brown perching bird with a thrasher's long tail and prominent down-curved bill. Curve-billed Thrasher quite similar in appearance and overlapping in range, but habitat quite different.

Personal Notes: Seen in the San Pedro River Riparian Area near Hereford, AZ.

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.

Steller's Jay

Scientific Name: Cyanocitta stelleri

Population Estimate: 4.4M

Range / Habitat: Year-round in montane evergreen forests of western North America, Canada and Mexico.

Field Notes: Noisy, inquisitive and conspicuous like most jays. Coloration is quite dark -- black head and neck with crest and bright blue body. No white markings.

Personal Notes: Richard had been trying to get a photo of this bird for some time. We were finally rewarded at Barr Camp on Pike's Peak. A fitting end to the summer in Wyoming (bottom photo). The top photo was from a group of more subdued jays in Apache-Sitgreaves Forests in Arizona and better demonstrates the plumage and crest.