My photographic adventures continue in southeastern Arizona. As you might remember, last time I wrote about an encounter with a bobcat in our backyard. Believe it or not, since then I have encountered several more bobcats which is more than I usually encounter. I have also seen several coyote, a dozen or so jack rabbits (which by the way are nearly as large at the coyote), a couple javelina (an animal that looks like a pig but is not related to pigs), a heard of about 35 mule deer and at least a billion desert cottontails. One morning I saw about 150 cottontails in just one group. Each encounter has been fun and exciting especially since these are animals that I usually don’t encounter in the Midwest.

Spring is in full swing, here in the Sonoran Desert. The Sonoran Desert is an arid region covering 120,000 square miles in southern Arizona and southeastern California, as well as most of Baja California and the western half of the state of Sonora, Mexico. It is a wonderful place filled with all sorts of cactus and succulent plants.

I think most people would think the desert is a barren region that is devoid of any wildlife. Nothing could be further from the truth. Each day I am impressed at the variety of birds and animals that call the Sonoran Desert home. One evening I was photographing a Western Screech Owl. Now normally that would be a very exciting event but as I stood there in the twilight a Great Horned Owl flew in and landed on a Saguaro Cactus just over my head. Three Elf Owls started to call about 50 feet away from where I was standing and a Barn Owl flew over to see what all the commotion was. That is four species of owl in just a few minutes and a hundred feet.

I started feeding the birds in the backyard of our rental house and within a day or so I have had about 15 species of birds show up. In fact I am getting so many birds that they empty my 3 tube feeders and one tray feeder by 9 AM each morning. If I filled the feeders again they would have them empty again by noon. I am lucky if my feeders at home are empted every 3 weeks or so. The sheer volume of birds in the desert is nothing short of astounding.

Even though this region is one of the hottest in North America, the nights still can get very cold. Average night-time temperatures during winter and early spring are in the 40’s. Many mornings when I go out the temps are in the high 30’s, but it doesn’t last long. By the time the sun comes up the temps shoot up to the mid 70’s and it seems like every day is a beautiful day.

Many of the birds you see in the desert are very different from what you would see in the northland. One bird in particular looks similar to one of our common backyard birds. It is called the Pyrrhuloxia (Cardinalis sinuatus) pronounced Per-lux-e-a, and looks very similar to the Northern Cardinal. In fact they are so closely related that they are exactly the same size, shape and proportion. Both have a tall, pointed crest on top of their head and a large heavy bill for cracking open seeds.

The male is over all gray with rosy-red highlights around its head, chest, tail and wings. It bill is yellow to tan, unlike the cardinal which has a bright red bill. The female Pyrrhuloxia is very similar to the female Northern Cardinal in all respects except for the color and size of the bill. The Pryyhuloxia’s bill is yellow and is shorter and not pointed.

Even the song and call of these two birds are similar. I always have to stop and listen carefully to determine the differences. I find that I enjoy seeing the Pyrrhuloxia as much as I do the Northern Cardinal. Until next time…