Christian Sedona - Nature

MOST COMMON HERE
Common Raven (corvus corax) Dark black; all parts! About 2 1/2'. Often sits as a group high up in dead trees resting. Quite mean looking! [more info]
Gambel's Quail (callipepla gambelii) This is the bird walking around on the ground with the funny forward-curving plume. Often little babies following behind in the summer. Dad usually sits high-up and warns of any danger while mom guides. So, usually if you see babies, you can see dad somewhere above. [more info]
House Finch (carpodacus mexicanus) Brown bird with a reddish rounded forehead and streaked breast and rump. Most commonly seen at a home feeder! Very social. [more info]
Red-Tailed Hawk (buteo jamaicensis) Dark-brown wings with white underbelly and red tail. Most likely to see sitting on a fence/pole looking around. This is the one causing much of the consternation below. [more info]
Turkey Vulture (cathares aura) The large brown-black birds circling high overhead, with a red head. 3-foot wingspan. [more info]
Western Scrub Jay (aphelocoma californica) This is the sizable jay you frequently see running-off all the other birds. Blue with long bill and tail. White throat with blue streaks. [more info]
LESS EASILY SEEN
Greater Roadrunner (geococcyx californianus) Long-legged and grey-brown with a crested head and long narrow tail. Runs along ground and can maintain speeds of 15mph. Feeds on small animals, snakes and insects. [more info]
Hummingbirds 'Magnificent' up in Oak Creek, 'Black-chinned' (metalic green with black chin and purplish neckband) in spring/summer and 'Annas' (metalic green; male having red throat and female with spotted throat) in the winter. The 'Rufous' (orange/red gorget and white breast), a migrant, is most easily seen in July and August. [more info]
Ladder-backed Woodpecker Most likely woodpecker when you hear the ratta-tat-tat sound on wood. The Gila Woodpecker (melanerpes uropygialsis) is also seen up here though further south it nests in holes in saguaro cacti. [more info]
MORE COMMON IN WINTER
American Kestrel (falco sparverius) A small falcon with red-brownish back and tail but bluish wings. Often moves tail while resting. Used to be called the sparrow hawk. [more info]
Dark-eyed Junco (junco hyemalis) About 6" long, with a dark head, whitish beak, white belly and brown-edged tail. Shows up in feeders a lot and social. Prefers trees, coniferous and mixed. [more info]
Killdeer (charadrius vociferus) Most known for its 'kill-dee kill-dee' call repeated over and over (thus both its common and scientific names!). Brown with a white belly and two black horizontal stripes. Will play injured to lead intruders away from nest. [more info]
MORE COMMON IN SUMMER
Ash-Throated Flycatcher (myiarchus cinerascens) Grey-brown bird with light yellow belly and red-brown tail. Has a small 'tuft' of feathers on top-back of head. Loves feeders. [more info]
Bullock's Oriole (icterus bullockii) Orange body with white/black wings and black throat. Interesting eye-stripe! Cottonwood and sycamore areas; builds a pouch-like nest.
Lesser Nighthawk (chordeiles minor) Nocturnal insect hunter! Dull brown with a white throat. White wing tips. Amazing fliers fun to watch at dusk as they dart back and forth after insects. [more info]
Summer Tanager (piranga rubra) This version all red with a white bill. Prefers mixed woods especially coniferous. Call similar to 'pit-ick, pit-ick'.
Yellow Warbler (dendroica petechia) 5" long, obviously yellow with a brownish breast. Likes to be in the shrubs and has a very sweet warble.

American Kestrel Russet back and tail; two black stripes on face. Male: blue-gray wing covertts; row of white spots on trailing edge of wing. Female: russet wing coverts. Feeds on insects, lizards, mice, often hovering before striking. Also smaller birds. Likely to see high on telephones lines, bobbing its tail. A real 'mouser'.

Ash-Throated Flycatcher Mmmm, I wish we had more of these. Brown bushy head, whitish gray throat, light yellow belly, olive-brown back. Eats mainly insects, usually from plants. Also lizards and berries. Recognizable poliec-whistle call. Usually nests in a cavity or hole which it lines.

Cactus Wren Dark crown, broad wide white eyebrow, streaked back, heavily barred wings and tail, breast spotted black. Most often seen in pairs or small family groups, looking for food on the ground or insects from plants. Common in cactus areas.

Gambel's Quail Very gregarious birds that form into coveys in the fall and winter. When breeding, pairs leave the group and then manage their little flock together. They tend to live near a perminent water source, and make their nests in a depression on the ground (in the shrubbery). The mother lays between 9 and 15 eggs and the chicks are able to walk and look for food within hours. If you have a small pond, the little chicks do not swim, so leave some rocks for them to climb out on. Males have a dark forehead, black throat and black patch on his tummy.

Dark-eyed Junco Mostly gray feathers, white outer tail feathers visible while flying, rufous back, pink bill, black face and dark eyes. Scratches around on the ground, looking for seeds and insects. Typically up on the mogollon in the summer and down here in the winter.

House Finch Male: forehead, bib and rump redish. Brown streaked back and sides. Female: streaked dusky brown all over. Loves seeds and searches around on the ground. Seen in large flocks in the winter. Flies in an undulating pattern where you can see the squared off tail. Has a cup-like nest, often in buildings.

Hummingbirds Here's the primary differences:
- Anna's Male: deep rose-red top of head and gorget that extends onto neck. Female: white throat speckled with red; green crown and nape. Known to pluck spiders from webs. Quite abundant. Somewhat nonmigratory.
- Black-Chinned Metallic green above, whitish underparts and dusky green flanks. Male: violet band at lower border of black throat. Female: throat all white or faint dusk streaks. Twitches or pumps tail while foraging. Drinks much more in cold weather.
- Broad-Tailed Male: green crown and rose-red gorget; mostly black tail. Female: white throat with speckling; buff washed underparts; a little rufous at base of tail.
- Magnificent Male: purple crown, metallic throat, black tummy, tail dark green notched. Female: duller with scaly grey underparts, squarish tail with small white tips on outer feathers. One of largest, flies slower than smaller ones, perches prominently on high twigs, canyons and woodlands.
- Rufous Male: reddish neck, brownish crown and wings, reddish-brown lower body. Female: similar to female Broad-tailed but brighter rufous flanks and more rufous at base of tail. Migratory.

Killdeer Tan to chocolate-brown on top, white neck and belly, black double breast bands, black stripe on forehead, and reddish eye ring. Most known for having a 'broken leg' when threatened near nest. Reddish orange bottom in flight. You often see it running, stopping and then jabbing its beak into the ground. Feeds mainly on insects on plants near the ground.

Lesser Nighthawk Long narrow wings, cryptic plumage in brown, buss, gray, and rust. Most often viewed at dusk, flying low with a slow, fluttery wingbeat, feeding on insects. Traps insects in its wide bristle-edged mouth. Mates for life. Mainly in dry, open country and grasslands. They don't build nests; directly on ground covered by female.

Common Raven He is ALL black! Ugh. Eats a wide variety of food including worms, insects, rodents, eggs, carrion and refuse. They are known to hunt together, if prey is too big. They are monogamous for life and participate in acrobatic courtship flights. Nests are built high up in trees and on cliffs, near water.

Red-tailed Hawk Brown body, heavy bill, whitish tummy with dark streaks, distinctive rufous tail on adult, younger has gray-brown tail, and numerous bars. Oftens 'hangs' high up in the air, search for food below. Loves rodents, most often near the edges of two types of terain.

Road Runner Streaked brown and white overall, long heavy bill with hooked tip, long tail edged in white, bushy crest on head, short rounded wings. Wide diet including insects, lizards, snakes, rodents, and small birds. Real meany! Runs at speeds up to 15 mph (similar to bicycle). Can fly but only when necessary. Not too common.

Turkey Vulture In flight, contrasting two-tone underwings, tail extending beyond feet, brownish-black feathers, unfeathered head (yuck), ivory bill, pale legs. Soars high above looking for carrion and refuse. Rocks from side to side, seldom flapping its wings which are held upwards in a 'V' for special lift. Can smell carrion very well, even when hidden in forests.

Western Scrub Jay Blue, dull-blue on head without a crest, slightly grey back, pale gray underparts, white eyebrows, a dark necklace and not as chunky as the Mexican. Eats mainly acorns, pinyon seeds, insects, lizards, and sometimes mice. Tend to build nests near each other.

Woodpeckers Black and white barred back, grayish below with black spots, white cheek on face, outlined in black. Crown is red on males, black on females. Interestingly males eat lower to ground, mainly ants, while females forage higher up for insects. Both eat cacti fruit. Love beetle larvae underneath bark of smaller trees. Excavates precise circular nesting holes in dead limbs of trees, large cacti, agave and even fence poles. Most often found along streams/rivers here in Arizona. Up on the Mogollon in the forest is also the similar Hairy Woodpecker (no barber shops up there).