Some Bird Images

This bright red fellow is a Vermilion Flycatcher. They spend their time perched on a twig or atop a bush watching for bugs or insects that fly by and can be caught and eaten. They range from the southern parts of the United States down into central and South America. Many are resident year round in southern Arizona.

This lighter looking bird is also a Vermilion Flycatcher but a juvenile or younger bird. They will develop the bright red plumage you see above in the next year.

A Loggerhead Shrike can kill and carry an animal as massive as itself. It transports large prey in its feet and smaller victims in its beak. They will also catch a prey like a grasshopper and skewer it onto a thorn of a nearby plant where it will then eat it from where it is attached.

This is an American Kestrel. It is a male as identified by the bluish coloration on it's shoulder. They are the smallest falcon and found commonly throughout North America and major parts of South America. The oldest American Kestrel was a male and at least 14 years, 8 months old when he was found in Utah in 2001. He had been banded in the same state in 1987.

Northern Mockingbirds continue to add new sounds to their repertoires throughout their lives. A male may learn around 200 songs throughout its life. According to the published range maps they are found throughout the United States, Mexico, The Carribean, and parts of southern Canada. Here in Arizona they are very common.

This picture is called "here's looking at you". It is just a fun picture of the Northern Mockingbird.

There are three different Grackle species found within the United States. Common Grackle, occuring further to east than here, Boat-tailed Grackle, occuring predominantly along the southern gulf coast, and the Great-tailed Grackle that you see here. The Great-tailed is very common in this part of Arizona. This image shows a male Great-tailed Grackle, the females are about half the size of males with long, slender tails, and are browner in coloration.

This is a male Phainopepla. Here in the southwest, Phainopeplas and mistletoe rely on each other. Phainopeplas feed heavily on berries of this parasitic plant; after the berries pass through the bird's digestive tract, the seeds often stick to branches of mesquite or other trees, where they can sprout new mistletoe clumps. The female Phainopepla are overall a grayish coloration not the shiny black you see here.

This is a Ladder-backed Woodpecker of the southwestern deserts and Mexico. They often nest in cactus and can be heard foraging for grubs under the bark of the Mesquite trees or other woody plants that occur in their area.