Last week I posted part 1 of desert edition for #featheredfriday by @melinda010100 This time I have a few more desert birds from Southwest Arizona.
Here we have a proud gila woodpecker claiming the top of a baby sajuaro cactus. These birds are quite common in the southwest and are even considered a pest at times when they peck holes into frame houses. But it is easy to thwart them if you put metal flashing over exposed wood which will help the wood last longer in the heat anyway.
Here is another one on a different sajuaro. It is amazing how they can doge the cactus thorns when they land on these things.
Speaking of dodging thorns, here is the state bird of Arizona the cactus wren. They have a really unique call and can be seen crawling around in cholla cactus and other cacti somehow missing all their thorns as they pry out various insects that live between the thorns.
Here is a familiar fellow beep beep. They are all over the place in Southern Arizona chasing down snakes and lizards and even baby rabbits. In the middle of the day when it is over 100 degrees out and everything is quiet in the desert you can hear their yawning calls as they wait out the heat in the shake of a mesquite tree. You can often see them on the side of the road running along the side of the car. I suspect they hang out near the road looking for dead rabbits and snakes.
Meanwhile off in the distance there was a horse watching me. This one has tons of acreage to roam around in. Horse people in Arizona have to ship in a lot of hay otherwise these guys will eat too many mesquite beans and will need to be taken to the vet for excess gas lol.
I managed to spot a Mexican Jay in the mountains. These guys are quite tame and brazen. They are smart and know that humans have food. This one is eyeing a picnic bench below. At least they pose nicely, but I felt a bit like I was surrounded by raptors while I tried eating my lunch.
I suspect this tiny little guy is a gray flycatcher. They are nearly as small as the blue gray gnatcatchers I see in Illinois that are barely larger than a hummingbird.
Here is a mysterious bird that looks like some kind of grossbeak. Perhaps it is in juvenile coloring and might be a black headed grossbeak as those are in Arizona. Maybe there are other grossbeak species that pass through...
I visited a monastery near where I grew up and there were all sorts of peacocks around. These guys used to walk across the road and raid our garden of strawberries many years ago. This might be one of the culprits as they live a long time. He is mooning me laughing at getting away with eating all the strawberries lol.
That's all for now, happy #featheredfriday