Birds in the Rain

Living 24/7 in the elements has its drawbacks.

The few and far between rains have made this bird's hunt more difficult.

The bedraggled juvenile Cooper's Hawk landed in our backyard rather wet and somewhat dejected after an unsuccessful attack on the Mourning Dove flock.

All animals must deal with the elements. Whether they get stressed by the rain is uncertain.

Curve-billed Thrashers only live in a dry environment where rains are rare.

Luckily, he doesn't have to put up with this indignity that often.

Too much or too little rain doesn't faze a Cactus Wren.

The Cactus Wren rarely drinks water. Instead s/he gets all his water requirements from the insects he eats.

Rain is a threat for the Broad-billed Hummingbird though. At 0.12 ounce, a hail stone could remove this tiny bird from the picture.

Resting on a thorn in the open, this one is making the best of a wet situation.

The Abert's Towhee in a dry land, ground dwelling bird. Pairing up for life to sing in the desert underbrush, they survive on insects and seeds. Slippery rocks won't phase them either.

Hear their sweet song at:  https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Aberts_Towhee/

As for the wet Cooper's Hawk, s/he might make a meal of any of the previously mentioned birds, with the possible exception of the Broad-billed Hummingbird. There's just not enough there to make that effort.

Six or seven hours later in the afternoon sunshine, he had dove for dinner.

Allan
(Click any picture to enlarge)
Credits: Cornell Lab of Ornithology, All About Birds
The Sibley's Guide to Birds

Not All Birds are COMMON to Everyone

It's hard to be more common than the ubiquitous Mourning Dove. Then again, when seen up close, the Mourning Dove is a respectable stand-out.

Blacks, whites and grays blend with soft shading as a stunning feather pattern appears. To that add a blue eye-ring and you have a beautiful bird.

Widespread and also common is the Gila Woodpecker. The male's red head and yellow belly, along with its piercing arrival and departure calls, grabs your attention.

Hear its shrill call at:
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Gila_Woodpecker

The Harris's Hawk is a larger and darker bird. Its size will impress you immediately.

Its colors, dark brown to near black to chestnut red, all jumble into a dull sheen.

They hunt together in family groups.

The Great Horned Owl is another large bird common to the desert southwest. Often heard hooting a longing lament on winter nights, they are seldom seen in the daylight.

This one proudly perched in our backyard at mid-morning. She was most accommodating, as we watched each other for a while.

Somewhat colorless except for its bright yellow eye, the Curve-billed Thrasher, a southwestern bird, is widely seen and heard... the definition of common.

What he lacks in color he makes up for in song or maybe whistles.

Hear its unique song at:  https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Curve-billed_Thrasher

Arizona Birds in Snow

I know!

Posting birds in SNOW in late February is going to prompt yawns and scorn from Wisconsinites, but these are DESERT birds not normally seen in snow.

A male Pyrrhuloxia (aka desert cardinal) cracks down on a newly uncovered seed.

It snows at the higher elevations in Arizona during a normal winter, but this low-down snow blanketed our house at just under 3000 feet. Snow is expected at 5000-8000'... not often at 3000'.

The birds didn't seem to mind though. They went about searching and scratching as they usually do, not affected by the weather.

A female Pyrrhuloxia poses in knee-deep snow (if birds had knees, that is) having no trouble uncovering food.

A male House Finch presents a peanut to his mate. In the early morning 20 degrees, it is quickly accepted.

Birds adapt well to large swings in temperatures. Their back is covered in multiple layers of feathers to trap warm air. Combined with a downy underbelly they manage quite nicely.

You often see birds in colder weather fluffed-up, looking larger than you'd expect. This extra bulking up maintains warmth for a desert existence.

(Click any picture to enlarge)

A juvenile Costa's Hummingbird searches an emu bush for any flowers not yet covered in snow. He was finding some, but he was working ten times as hard to find his early morning meal.

A Verdin, on the same emu bush, looks for aphids, scale and larvae attached to the branches.

A White-crowned Sparrow waits his turn at the feeder while closely watching for raptors.

I only have seed eating-birds to show you today, but there are many other desert birds. Where seed-eating birds congregate, a raptor, like a Cooper's Hawk, is always a possibility.

The pecking order at the food site is determined mainly by size or other physical attributes. Birds of equal proportions get along grudgingly.

Still, the largest weapons almost always prevail.

The Canyon Towhee (sparrow family) sports a necklace of brown spots and a central dark spot. Canyon Towhee are a common southwestern desert bird and a typical ground feeder.

A buff crown with a similar under-tail are the main distinguishing marks.

A female Northern Cardinal (southwestern) with her crest up is excited about something... snow?

This male Northern Cardinal (southwestern), also with his crest up, seems to take exception to the likes of a Mourning Dove.

These two are close in size and strength, so starting a fight over who has the right to do what and with which and to whom is muted.

Snow in Arizona is exceptional. It's especially enjoyable knowing it will be a short lived event.

Allan

Credits: Cornell Lab of Ornithology, All About Birds
The Sibley Guide to Birds

Curve-billed Thrasher

By observation alone, I suggest the Curved-billed Thrasher is a bit of a bully. My observations hold no scientific weight, as it's only my opinion. Still you might agree, he has a bent to intimidate.

It's unknown how other birds see the Curved-billed Thrasher's demeanor and formidable appearance, but most birds give way when a thrasher arrives on the scene.

Not antisocial, rather 'anti-sharing', the Curved-billed Thrasher prefers to dictate who will share the bounty where one exists.

As a large songbird armed with an outsized bill... a sizable weapon... the outcome of conflicts is predictable.

Birds like this Mourning Dove back off when push comes to shove.

An insect eater with an 'attitude' best describes this southwestern desert dweller.

Allan

Credit: Cornell Lab of Ornithology, All About Birds

Desert Birds in the Snow

                          Although snow in rare in the desert, new moisture is always welcome.
These two Curved-billed Thrashers seem puzzled, as snow covers their cactus. Possibly never having experienced snow before, they appear confused...What's this all about?

Although the desert is typically hot and dry, desert snows will develop when atmospheric conditions are right.

As welcome as snow is for some, snow makes finding food harder, especially for the ground dwelling birds like the Mourning Doves.

A young Cooper's Hawk may consider snow an advantage. Cooper's Hawks hunt other birds and may benefit from a white blanket of snow highlighting their prey.  S/he soars quietly with minimal effort looking for a meal.

Snow doesn't last long in the desert and a bird's search for food resumes quickly.

A common sight in the dry southwestern desert is the Ladder-backed Woodpecker.

This Ladder-backed circles sideways in search of insects. Insects hide in cracks and crevices.

His stiff tail supports him upright.

Insects can hide in inaccessible places, too, so finding them takes a bit of dexterity and daring for this Orange-crowned Warbler.

(Click any picture to enlarge)


The Cactus Wren is a year-round desert resident...winter cold to summer heat.

As the wren family's largest member, the Cactus Wren is well adapted to find enough moisture in food to survive in arid lands.

Snow melts beneath the Anna's Hummingbird as he awakes from torpor. Torpor is a state of lethargy where the bird's internal temperature drops and breathing and heart rate slows.

This conserves the tiny energy stores the Anna's Hummingbird possesses. Approximately the size of a ping-pong ball and the weight of a nickel...depletion of energy reserves could be fatal during a cold night.

The warmth he needs to rise each morning is provided by the sun. Arizona's dry air and intense sunshine brings him back to life to reflect the sunrise.

The Pyrrhuloxia is a tough-old-bird. He gets most, if not all, the moisture he needs from the food he eats...rarely drinking. As a seed-eating, ground-dwelling bird, capable of surviving in temperatures well over one-hundred degrees Fahrenheit he is well suited for the arid southwest.

Snow doesn't bother him and he seldom ventures out of the desert. Related to the more common red Northern Cardinal of the eastern two-thirds of the United States, and similar in appearance, the Desert Cardinal is quite comfortable when the cacti are covered in snow.

Allan

Credit: Cornell Lab of Ornithology, All About Birds
Credit: The Sibley Guide to Birds

Curve-billed Thrasher

Three weeks old and just starting to learn about life, this plump and fuzzy Curve-billed Thrasher rests ever so lightly on a cholla cactus.

chol-la: (Spanish) ‘skull, head’, pronounced: choy-ya)

Having fledged recently from his prickly birthplace, he’s probably learned one thorny life lesson already…thorns.

An ability to navigate a prickly environment should serve him well though. He'll probably spend his entire life in the Sonoran Desert where most things poke, scratch or bite.

Raptors and snakes are ever present threats to him, so for now, he’s sticking close to a parent.

Curve-billed Thrashers are common desert birds...well-suited in their dusty dun feathers. He's part of the desert's color palette.  Only bright yellow eyes give him away.

At ten to twelve inches in length, he is a large songbird. With a long down-curved bill, projecting a fierceness he may not deserve, he thrashes the ground for insects, invertebrates, seeds and berries.  

Males and females look alike and share incubating duties together.

This Curve-billed Thrasher was incubating eggs when I stumbled upon her well-hidden nest (lower left). She flew to a nearby cactus and tried to hide.  Normally a very vocal bird…she was silent.  I knew she was hiding something of value when she stayed nearby, but kept quiet.  

The sun shone on three pale blue eggs deep inside a cholla cactus' vicious needles.

Not wanting to stress her, I left quickly after making a picture.

The Curve-billed Thrasher returned immediately, diving through the prickly patch of thorns without hesitation to check on her eggs.

(Click any picture to enlarge.)

I'll guess here, but there is a perfect home for everyone somewhere.  The Curve-billed Thrasher has chosen one, also...the most inhospitable of homes, the cholla cactus, as its perfect home.

Allan

Credits: 
Cornell Lab of Ornithology, All About Birds
Wikipedia
The Sibley Guide to Bird

Curve-billed Thrasher

I can’t look at a Curve-billed Thrasher without thinking, why wasn’t he ever made into a Muppet character.  He would have been a marvelous Muppet, but sadly, it never happened.

This Curve-billed Thrasher is real and he lives in the Sonoran Desert of Arizona.  He uses his curved bill to ‘thrash’ around in the desert litter for insects, seeds and berries.  He sings a free form song full of whistles and squeaks and tweets.  He is a joy to listen to and never too shy to belt out a tune while perched atop a cactus.  He sings in the morning, all day long and even after the sun goes down.

This unfortunate fellow has a thorn up his nostril…ouch!  Lacking the means of grasping it with his foot, he may have to endure the pain for a while.  I wanted to pull it out, but I doubt he’d stand for it.

Nor do I have any doubt where he picked up that thorn.  Curve-billed Thrashers nest in the thorniest cacti, the cholla. Chollas are the stickiest, prickliest, most inhospitable cactus you’ll ever find in the desert.  The slightest brush against it will displace one of its arms onto your arm. Trying to remove it breaks it into two pieces, now both attached to you…then four...then eight.  Eventually you’ll look like a pincushion, feel like a fool and hurt badly. 

Why Curve-billed Thrashers choose this cacti in which to nest, I don’t know.  They certainly aren’t immune to the jabs of the thorns.  Maybe they’re confident enough and surefooted enough to navigate the dangers of such a prickly home…tricky.  I’m sure a nest robber understands what he’s up against and gives it careful thought. 

Widespread and common, the Curve-billed Thrasher has no fear of loosing his position in the desert.  
Either Muppet-like or evolved-to-perfection, it’s worth a desert stroll to find one.  Just stay away from that vicious cholla.

Allan

chol-la: (Spanish) ‘skull, head’, pronounced: choy-ya)

UPDATE, CORRECTION: I've been told by my nephew, Brian, that the Curve-billed Thrasher was likely the model and inspiration for the Muppet Gonzo. I didn't know that...thank you, Brian.