Roadrunners

Roadrunner Hunting Grasshoppers

It seems mockingbirds aren't the only birds that hunt grasshoppers. I spotted three roadrunners hunting grasshoppers near the road this morning. A local resident said he has seen these birds hunt quail chicks, spear them with their beaks, and eat them whole.  No wonder the mockingbirds chase them away.
"The Cornell Lab of Ornithology" website says they kill rattlesnakes - that's a plus!  They remind a little of mockingbirds because they lift their tail feathers up at a slant when standing as shown in the picture.

Mockingbirds Defending Their Territory

Mockingbird harassing a Red-tailed Hawk

On my morning walk today I witnessed what National Geographic describes as mockingbirds "defending their nesting and feeding grounds".  Pictured above is a mockingbird trying to scare away a red-tailed hawk. There were actually two mockingbirds, but I could only photograph one. I also saw another set of mockingbirds harassing a roadrunner near a house at the edge of the desert. The roadrunner took off towards the desert.

Red-tailed Hawk Carrying Rabbit's Legs

Hawks can often be seen hunting near the edge of the desert. They hunt rabbits, birds, and lizards. Here you can see a hawk with rabbit feet in its talons.  I have also seen the birds eating other birds. The mockingbirds get very upset whenever they are around, flying in circles around the intruding hawk trying to get it to leave the area.

Grey Shrike - Butcher Bird

 Grey Shrike - Butcher Bird

I was excited to see this bird again this morning.  I saw one for the first time a few weeks ago when taking the dogs for a walk in the desert near my house.  I was surprised that it didn't fly off right away with the dogs running all around, and had plenty time to study its marking. I didn't have my camera with me at the time, and probably wouldn't have gotten a very good picture anyways because it was getting dark, but I went right home and looked it up. I think it is a Loggerhead shrike. According to what I read shrikes are known as butcher birds because they hunt somewhat like hawks. They wait on perches and swoop down on birds, lizards, and other small animals. Because they don't have talons like hawks, they skewer their catch on cactus spines and thorns or stuffs them between rocks to eat them.

Baby Mocking Bird

Baby Mocking Bird - These birds are  easy to identify because they often stick their tail feathers up in the air when they are standing, and are incessant singers (if you can call it that).

I spotted this little bird on my walk down the street this morning. Actually I heard it way before I saw it.  It was calling for its mother very loudly. I shouldn't have been surprised to discover that the incessant noise was coming from such a little guy because these birds never shut up. They sometimes sing all day and all night long, which can be terribly annoying when you want to sleep with your window to take advantage of the short season of cool weather.

See "An Intro to Mockingbirds: The Noisiest, Most Aggressive Small Bird You'll Ever Meet" to see videos of Mockingbirds defending their nests, and to find out more information about these birds.

Gambel's Quail

Gambel's Quail on rooftop   

Quail are one of my favorite birds. I love their personalities. They strut around with their plumes sticking out in front of them, always trying to keep up with the covey, calling to each other to keep tabs on where they are so they don't get left behind. You can always tell when quail are around because they never stop talking. There is nothing more entertaining than seeing a trail of little quail following the adults across a street with there little plumes bobbing up and down in front of them, all in a row like a mother duck and her ducklings. I have lived here for over 14 years and have only been seeing quail in this area for the last couple of years.  Last year they really seemed to move in and now we see them everywhere, usually near houses next to open desert, sometimes on our street in the Mesquite Trees when the seedpods start to fall, but there are a lot of cats that probably keep them away. Prior to last year I would see them in the desert near our house on really wet years, but mostly I just saw them at the bird preserve and other wetter areas.