Birds

Raptors overhead, quail underfoot, and everything between.

subtitle = binomial (scientific name)

Raptors, Owls & Large

Golden eagle

Aquila chrysaetos

The big raptor you've heard. Hunts jackrabbits across open desert and nests on cliffs — spectacular overhead, and large enough to take a full-grown bird, so free-ranging poultry need overhead cover.

Red-tailed hawk

Buteo jamaicensis

The default soaring hawk; rusty tail, screaming call. Perches on poles hunting rodents — mostly an ally on your rat problem, but will take a chick from an open run.

Ferruginous hawk

Buteo regalis

Large, pale, rusty-legged hawk of open ground that shows up for the cooler months. Hunts ground squirrels and rabbits; gone again by late spring.

Prairie falcon

Falco mexicanus

Fast, sandy-brown desert falcon that takes birds and ground squirrels in low, hard flight. Seen seldom and briefly — usually a blur, not a perch.

American kestrel

Falco sparverius

Smallest falcon, jay-sized, hovers before dropping on insects and lizards from a wire perch. Too small to bother poultry — pure pest control, and will use a nest box.

Turkey vulture

Cathartes aura

Teetering black soarer with a bare red head, here through the warm months. Finds carrion by smell — pure cleanup crew, no threat to anything alive.

Common raven

Corvus corax

Big, smart, croaking black bird in pairs. Scouts your scraps, eggs, and anything unguarded — a clever, persistent egg-and-chick raider that learns your routine, so lock the run.

Great horned owl

Bubo virginianus

Ear-tufted night hunter — the deep hoots after dark. Takes rabbits, skunks, and unprotected poultry, but does serious rodent control; a closed coop at night settles the conflict.

Barn owl

Tyto alba

Pale heart-faced owl with a rasping screech. Superb rodent control around structures — a nest box near the homestead pays for itself; it hunts mice, not your hens.

Burrowing owl

Athene cunicularia

Long-legged little owl that lives in ground burrows and is active by day, bobbing when alarmed. Charming, harmless, and eats insects and rodents — a good sign on the land.

Quail, Doves & Roadrunner

Gambel's quail

Callipepla gambelii

Topknotted ground covey scuttling in lines, loud before they're visible. Everything eats them, and they'll flock to a low water dish — one of the easiest, liveliest birds to draw in.

Mourning dove

Zenaida macroura

Slim gray dove with a whistling wingbeat and a mournful coo people often mistake for an owl. Heavy at any water source — a guaranteed visitor once you put water out.

White-winged dove

Zenaida asiatica

Bigger dove with a bold white wing flash, here to breed in the warm months. Big on cactus fruit and seed, and quick to find water.

Greater roadrunner

Geococcyx californianus

Ground cuckoo that runs down lizards, insects, and even small snakes. Charismatic, fearless, will work your yard — a genuine helper that eats things you'd rather not have around.

Songbirds

Cactus wren

Campylorhynchus brunneicapillus

Big spotted wren with a car-alarm rattle you'll hear long before you spot it. Builds football-shaped nests in cholla — the desert's loudest small bird.

Verdin

Auriparus flaviceps

Tiny gray bird with a yellow head, gleaning insects through the shrubs. Builds bulky thornbush nests far bigger than the bird.

Phainopepla

Phainopepla nitens

Sleek crested black bird with red eyes — the 'silky flycatcher.' Lives on mistletoe berries and spreads them, perching conspicuously atop shrubs and small trees.

Black-throated sparrow

Amphispiza bilineata

Crisp desert sparrow with a black bib and white face lines, singing a tinkling song from the creosote. Will come in to water on hot days.

Loggerhead shrike

Lanius ludovicianus

Masked 'butcher bird' that impales prey on thorns and wire — a songbird that hunts like a raptor, taking insects, lizards, and mice. Odd, useful, and worth knowing by its larder.

Say's phoebe

Sayornis saya

Soft cinnamon-bellied flycatcher pumping its tail from a low perch, snapping insects out of the air. Nests on ledges and buildings — a welcome bug-eater around the house.

House finch

Haemorhous mexicanus

Streaky finch, males red-fronted, in constant chatter. Mobs any seed and water you put out — usually the first bird to find a new feeder.

Lesser goldfinch

Spinus psaltria

Tiny dark-backed yellow finch in twittering flocks. Loves seed heads and water; arrives in small busy groups once you've got either.

Woodpeckers

Gila woodpecker

Melanerpes uropygialis

Zebra-backed desert woodpecker, loud and conspicuous. Excavates cactus for nests and will drum on anything that resonates — including your metal roofing at dawn.

Ladder-backed woodpecker

Dryobates scalaris

Small barred woodpecker working cactus, yucca, and shrubs for insects. The quieter, smaller of the two resident woodpeckers.

Northern flicker

Colaptes auratus

Big ground-foraging woodpecker that shows up for the cooler months, hunting ants on open ground. Flashes color in flight; an ant-eater you'll want around.

Hummingbirds

Costa's hummingbird

Calypte costae

The desert hummer — males flare a brilliant purple throat-and-mustache. The signature dry-country species and a reliable pollinator; a feeder or flowering plant brings them right in.

Anna's hummingbird

Calypte anna

Stockier hummer with a magenta crown and throat, increasingly year-round. Aggressive at feeders and will defend one as its own — keep nectar fresh in the heat.