Rufous Hummingbirds were passing through.

This Rufous Hummingbird was coming in for a landing. Rufous Hummingbirds do not like to share their feeders and are very aggressive in protecting them from others.

Even perched, Rufous Hummingbirds are always on the lookout for any Hummingbird they think may be an intruder.

Black-chinned Hummingbirds were around wearing their clerical collars.

We were intent on watching the dozens of Hummingbirds that were buzzing around us. At one point another guest asked, “What’s that above your heads?” We looked up to see a large Orb Weaver spider taking its prey up its web and towards the ceiling above us. It had wrapped up what appeared to be a large fly. I’m not good at spider identification but this may be a Cat-faced Orb Weaver based on the black spots on its back.

After the spider retreated into a crack between the boards above us, we returned our gaze to the birds around us.

It looked like it was the King of the World, surveying its Kingdom from on high.

Just recently I was driving along a farm road when it was well over 100° and we saw this Sonoran Gopher Snake crossing the road. It might have been returning from some water in a nearby irrigation ditch. In any case we hopped out of the truck quickly to try to get some photos before it moved off the road.

The Gopher Snake was quick but I did manage to get one decent photo of it.

House Sparrows are one of the most common birds in the world. The males have a prominent black bib. I think this bird is an adult male but in a non-breeding plumage. During the fall molt, the House Sparrow loses and slowly replaces all of his feathers, including those black bib feathers. The new bib feathers grow in with pale tips that hide the black underneath. Those pale outer tips will fade and wear away during the winter to reveal the dark black bib just in time for the springtime breeding season.

Earlier this summer I saw this male Ladder-backed Woodpecker at Agua Nueva Park, across from Sweetwater Wetlands. This species always seems to look for food deliberately on the back side of a tree trunk if it thinks you are looking at it. It might be my imagination, but that made this moment so nice. It was a great look at this bird in search of breakfast.

I was talking with a neighbor the other day when we heard a Common Raven calling. That wasn’t unusual but when we looked for it, we saw that the Common Raven was being chased by a Cooper’s Hawk.

This chase continued across the sky with neither of the birds getting a clear advantage over the other. The Hawk kept pace with the Raven, occasionally closing in on it. And the Raven never tried evasive maneuvers and was just flying as fast as it could towards the Catalina Mountains.

They came low across the horizon and in front of trees one street over and then disappeared from view. The Cooper’s soon reappeared and flew back towards where we had originally spotted a second Cooper’s Hawk. About ten minutes later, a Common Raven flew back south behind us. Whether it was the same bird or not, we didn’t know, but I’d like to believe it was.

Those were some special moments from this summer.

I stood inside the house but at the open kitchen door. The Bobcat watched me for a few seconds before deciding that I wasn’t about to disrupt it again.

Upon reaching the ground, it paused again just to be sure we understood each other. From the shot I could tell this was a male bobcat.

And this is why the Bobcat was here with the temperature well over 100°. It crawled under the pots and began to rest in the cool and moist shade. My drip irrigation system runs for a few minutes three times a day during the hottest part of the summer. The soil and debris under the pots remain moist and cool even on the hottest of days. I couldn’t get a good look from the kitchen door and did not want to walk onto the porch and disturb the Bobcat. If you look closely, you can see its nose on the ground just to the left of the black, metal foot of the plant stand. Time for a cat nap!

I sat at the open kitchen door and waited. After about a half hour, the cat woke up. In the shot below you can find an open eye staring through the lavender leaves at me.

It soon got up, hopefully cooled and refreshed. It glanced at me......

.....yawned.....

.....and then hopped onto the sitting wall and looked into the desert. I find it interesting that even though the bobcat was looking away from me, its left ear was turned to the side or back just to be able to hear whether or not I might try approaching it.

And then it was gone. It rained the next morning and I was thrilled to receive just over an inch of rain. Part of me, however, was sort of hoping for more very hot afternoons where my porch might offer one of the few cool spots in the neighborhood.

The following plates are from Arizonans. You may notice that the tags on the plates indicate that these photos are from my ‘archives’ and not taken this year! One friend had this plate celebrating the Common Loon, the most widespread of Loons in America. Every once in a while one of these birds may be blown into our area by winter storms but don’t expect to see one here.

Sometimes a person just wants to let you know who they are and what they like to do.

Here’s another far off bird. Anhingas can be found in areas with water along the coast from Texas to the Mid-Atlantic states and inland a bit. It would be fun to know the story of what was special about this bird to this car owner.

One more Arizonan who loves birds.

Nobody will be able to see this bird. The Great Auk was a large, flightless seabird of the North Atlantic that was hunted to extinction in the mid 19th century. The Celtic name for the Great Auk was “penguin”. When later European explorers came across similar looking but unrelated birds in the southern Hemisphere, they called those birds ‘penguins’.

These days it seems as if many birders carry around cameras along with their binoculars. This plate belonged to a good friend of mine who is both an excellent birder and an excellent photographer!

I also have a photo collection of many license plates from outside of Arizona but those will have to wait, perhaps until 2027. If you have a plate that fits this collection, or find others, please send me pictures!

The Hawk watched the truck for a while, then roused and flew off.

A close-up shows the hunting and killing tools of this raptor. Those talons have the grip strength of up to 200 pounds per square inch. Red-tails have three forward facing toes and one large back toe called a hallux, used to pierce and kill its prey. Red-tailed Hawks have a mechanism in their legs that automatically locks the tendons which clamps the talons, allowing them to hold their prey tightly without needing any muscular effort!

Meanwhile, the birds in the field were all feeling the heat. This young Western Kingbird was breathing through an open mouth. Birds don’t sweat so this panting behavior helps to cool them down. The inside corner of the open mouth is called the bird’s gape. On this bird, the light color of the gape where upper and lower halves of the bird’s beak meet tells us this is still a young bird.

The Palmer Amaranth plants between the fields are popular spots for the birds, both to perch on but also for the many seeds they provide. This male Lazuli Bunting was as hot as the Kingbird was. Lazuli Buntings pass through our area during migration season and Birdnote tells us more about these birds.

Female Lazuli Buntings lack the bright blue of the males and are grayish brown. This bird was also mouth breathing, trying to stay cool on this harsh summer afternoon.

Yellow-headed Blackbirds have begun their migration south. Many pass through the Tucson area and many will also remain here throughout the winter. The alfalfa fields are a comfortable place for these birds. Both female and immature males are more brown than black and both can have dull yellow heads.

Here’s another view of the Yellow-headed Blackbird looking straight at me. You can learn more about this species of birds at this Audubon Field Guide site.

There was a small flock of Killdeer in the field. Ordinarily Killdeer are not found in flocks. However, they do group together for migration. We saw about two dozen Killdeer in the fields. They were all spaced about five feet from each other but moved together as a collective group. This one is representative of the many others that were nearby in the muddy alfalfa fields.

More to come as there will be changes in the birdlife at local farms as we move into fall and winter!

Many Broad-tailed Hummingbirds were at Beatty’s. They are the most common breeding Hummingbird in high elevations here in the summer and can be found above 5000 feet. We see them during migration seasons at lower elevations. Broad-tailed Hummingbirds have a long tail and red gorget, barely evident in this shot. (Correction: this is a photo of an Anna’s Hummingbird, not a Broad-tailed Hummingbird)

Female Broad-billed Hummingbirds do not have that deep blue breast. They do have a broad bill that is orange at the base.

As with most male Hummingbirds, the sun has to hit the gorget feathers just right for the color to pop. Broad-tailed Hummingbirds are known for their red throats. If the angle of the sun varies, then the color may display as orange or even yellow. Those throat feathers are not pigmented red. The microscopic structure of the feathers polarizes the light, causing the iridescence when light hits it at just the right angle.

This is a male Broad-billed Hummingbird that hatched this spring. Now, at the end of his first summer, he is beginning to grow in his blue adult plumage. Right now that blue is patchy but by next summer this will be an adult Broad-bill in its full glory.

You can see how this Broad-tailed Hummingbird has a long tail which extends beyond the tips of the bird’s feathers. While Hummingbird bills appear to be very stiff, the ends of each bill can flex. The bird may be just stretching its jaw muscles now, like a yawn, to reset the jaw joint.

One more look at the Broad-billed Hummingbird. Unlike the Broad-tail, this bird’s tail does not extend beyond its wings.

And one final look at the Broad-tailed Hummingbird. Hummingbirds can be seen sticking their tongues out while perched for a number of reasons. They may be clearing nectar off the tongue. They may be repositioning the long tongue as Anderson Cooper explains here.

Broad-billed and Broad-tailed are both Hummingbirds that share behaviors and that can be found in southern Arizona and the Southwest during breeding season. However, they look different and are generally seen at different elevations. Broad-bills generally are found in the desert and low elevation areas while Broad-tails are a high elevation species.

The first bird of the day was a Pied-billed Grebe taking its morning bath. The water drops were flying everywhere. This Grebe looked a bit different from usual. We didn’t see the tell-tale “pied-bill” with a dark stripe down the middle.

Here is a photo of a Pied-billed Grebe taken at the same location several months ago. This shows what we typically think a Pied-billed Grebe looks like. That black stripe down its bill and the dark throat is part of its breeding plumage.

Now that we are past breeding season, that black stripe will fade and the bird’s bill will turn a yellow-ish. The black feathers on its throat will be replaced by white feathers. I like the circling ripples of water created by this active Grebe.

On another pond we saw an immature Black-crowned Night Heron patiently standing still. It may have been fishing or it may have just been resting. This bird does not have its black crown yet. It takes this species about three years to achieve its adult plumage and become truly “black-crowned”. This bird already has red eyes, a sign of adulthood, but the brown feathers have yet to transition to the black, white and gray feathers of an adult.

A Flame Skimmer was one of many dragonflies present. The end of summer seems to bring a surge of dragonflies to our southern Arizona.

The numbers of American Snout butterflies also seem to explode after our monsoon season begins. This species is appropriately named and easy to identify thanks to their very enlarged snout!

One Texas Ranger plant was full of blooms and this Anna’s Hummingbird was taking advantage of the nectar in each flower.

I see Black Saddlebags dragonflies in the air but rarely find them resting. This one was perched in the sun and remained very still for a long time.

As we walked off the course, we saw a Blue Grosbeak atop a very tall mesquite tree.

The Blue Grosbeak repeated his calls over and over again. You can listen to one recording of his song here or find a variety of his songs and calls here.

We took over two hours to walk about a mile and a half. Birding is a slow type of walking but it was a very good walk.

“The sum of the whole is this: walk and be happy, walk and be healthy.”.....Charles Dickens

“Life is already too short to waste on speed. I have a friend who’s always in a hurry; he never gets anywhere. Walking makes the world much bigger and thus more interesting. You have time to observe the details.”.....Edward Abbey

“The sound of birds stops the noise in my mind.”.....Carly Simon

The Burrowing Owl wasted no time exiting his carrier and it shot into the field.

At first, all it did was just fly fast. It seemed to want to get as far away as possible and as quickly as possible. The Burrowing Owl barely skimmed the ground as it flew.

Burrowing Owls are about 8-10 inches tall, measured from their head to the tip of their tail. Their wingspan is 22 inches tip-to-tip.

While we held our breath, time seemed to slow down and the Owl zoomed in a straight line at first. Its primary thought was likely “just get far away.”

And then, at about 25 yards, it finally relaxed and began to investigate its surroundings.

It turned towards some “tall” vegetation, flying past some Russian thistle, aka tumbleweed, and continued to survey the area.

It detoured past the tumbleweed, still orienting to the area and looking for a good place to land.

It cleared the tumbleweed patch and kept flying.

At that point the Burrowing Owl locked onto a distant clump of vegetation and flew directly towards its destination.

It landed in front of another patch of plants, too far away for me to get a photo. We watched as it sat there for a while. After getting its bearings, the Burrowing Owl then flew farther across the field towards where other burrows were located. We walked away happy to have been part of this successful chapter of the bird’s life.

People buy personalized license plates to express their individuality and to showcase their hobbies and interests. Birders are no different, and the parking lot offered a glimpse into the field of Birding. (To learn more about any of the birds highlighted in this post, click on the links provided!) One target bird for people coming to southern Arizona is the Coppery-tailed Trogon, formerly called the Elegant Trogon. The bird’s official name has been changed but we know what this car owner was thinking of!

Great-tailed Grackles originated in tropical lands but by the 1880’s reached the southern borders of the United States and continued to expand their range. Many people know them as “Costco Parking Lot Birds”, but they are very intelligent birds with a huge tail and loud, raucous calls.

The Gray Jay was renamed the Canada Jay a decade ago but is still a very special bird. These birds belong to the Corvid family and are very intelligent. You can find them in the boreal forests in Canada and Alaska. They have adapted to survive year-round in that harsh climate and even breed during the heart of the winter!

Great Egrets are large birds with snowy white plumage. Their near extinction in the late 1800’s helped to inspire the modern conservation movement and the Great Egret is the logo of the National Audubon Society.

There are many Finches around but in Tucson Lesser Goldfinches and House Finches are the most common. House Finches were originally a species of the American Southwest. In the 1940’s, pet shop owners in New York illegally imported House Finches and, in an effort to help sell the birds, renamed them “Hollywood Finches”. Authorities cracked down and the vendors released the birds, which resulted in these Southwestern birds spreading across the entire eastern United States.

American Kestrels are the smallest and most colorful of the six Falcon species in the United States. They are very pretty birds but are nevertheless fast and fierce hunters.

One day I hope to see a Snowy Owl. It probably won’t happen in Tucson, but I can dream. They are birds that breed in the Arctic and have extremely thick feathers to help them thrive in that climate. Because Snowy Owls hunt during the daytime, sightings are very special. Harry Potter’s Owl Hedwig was a Snowy Owl.

In 1954, J. R. R. Tolkien wrote “The Lord of the Rings.” In a poem describing the hero Aragon, Tolkien wrote “Not all those who wander are lost.” It has been adapted by many people who enjoy nature, whether through camping, hiking, or birding.

Not all of us live our life like Aragon did, but Birding is something anyone can enjoy at any level and it does offer a spirit of adventure and exploration.

You can read about the benefits of birding in Psychology Today, the Atlantic’s article “All the Cool Kids are Birding”, National Geographic’s article on Amy Tan’s journey into birding, or in Audubon’s “Yes, Birding Does Change Your Brain.”

Of course, you can also just download the Merlin Bird ID app, sit on your back porch and enjoy the birds in your yard!

Although their name was officially changed from Magnificent to Rivoli’s in 2017, these birds in the right light are truly magnificent looking. My photos from that morning only hint at this, but the males have a turquoise gorget and a purple crown. With their dark color and large size, they dwarf the other Hummingbirds that they share the feeders with.

Rivoli’s have one of the highest known heart rates of any animal with a backbone, ranging from 420-1,200 beats per minute!

Here is where Rivoli’s can be found in the US:

I was able to capture a bit of this bird’s purple crown. It’s not much, but at least you can see a hint of what could be!

One Rivoli’s Hummingbird perched on a twig for a while. In the shade, none of the feathers glowed, but the clear background allowed for a crisp look at this bird.

Apparently, this was an important twig. It is the same twig that a Violet-crowned had been using (as can be seen in my most recent blog post). While the Rivoli’s was perched and minding its own business, a Violet-crowned Hummingbird felt like protesting its presence. Below you can see that the Rivoli’s has alerted, and is in a defensive position compared to the photo above.

The Violet-crowned made an offensive pass at the Rivoli’s.

As the Violet-crowned Hummingbird continued to fly around the area, the Rivoli’s Hummingbird remained alert and watchful.

The Violet-crowned made another attacking pass. While the Rivolio’s is much larger than the Violet-crowned, Violet-crowned Hummingbirds are a more aggressive species. Despite weighing almost half as much as the larger bird and being a few centimeters shorter, the Violet-crowned Hummingbird is very assertive around ‘its’ feeders.

Finally, both birds flew off. For a nice reference to Rivoli’s Hummingbirds, see this Tucson Bird Alliance piece.

Evolution wired Hummingbirds to defend their sources of food. With such high rates of metabolism, and scattered flower patches in nature, Hummingbirds evolved to be very protective of their sources of nectar. Their survival instinct hasn’t changed and even though we see feeders as a rich and easy source of food for all hummingbirds, they still feel the need to defend what they see as a personal resource. You can read about this behavior here.

Violet-Crowned Hummingbirds are a Mexican species that is large compared to many of our other more common Hummingbirds. Large means they weigh 0.2 ounces, or the same as a US quarter or 3 sheets of copy paper. Male and female Violet-Crowns look the same with a snowy white breast and throat, the reddish-orange bill tipped in black, and with a crown that glows blue-purple in the right light.

The AllAboutBirds range map shows the only place to see Violet-crowned Hummingbirds in the US where they appear during breeding season. They are not common even during breeding season but can be found in foothill and middle elevation canyon mountain groves. Beatty’s is at 5,700 feet elevation.

Many of the hummingbird feeders were in shade with some dappled sunlight and the Violet-crowned Hummingbirds didn’t often perch in the open. There were two spots that seemed to be their occasional perch of choice.

From this perch, when the Hummingbird turned its head, the crown finally glowed in the brilliant iridescent purple color. That color against the white throat and orange bill was quite the combination.

Hummingbird tongues are very complex. Sometimes a Hummingbird will stick its tongue out while it is perched. It might be sampling traces of sugar on its tongue or microscopic air particles. Hummingbird tongues are actually split and loop under the skin and around and behind the skull. So this bird might be ‘resetting’ its tongue system. For more on this unique tongue, you can listen to an NPR Science Friday report.

Once again, a slight turn of the head brings out the full color of this special Hummingbird.

Birdnote tells us more about a Hummingbird’s tongue here.

In May I learned about some Elf Owls in a wash in Pima County. Together with a few friends, we were able to spend a number of evenings in the desert after dark observing this pair of owls

Once we discovered where the nest cavity was, that was the spot for our observations. By our second visit, the female Elf Owl was in the saguaro nest during most of our visits. Week after week we watched from a distance. Her changing behavior, calls, and interactions with the male Elf Owl helped us learn about her nesting habits. Once she had eggs and then young in the nest, she would wait and wait for regular food deliveries.

Elf Owls are the smallest species of Owls in the world. The primary food choice for these tiny owls is insects. Shortly after dark, the male Elf Owl began a series of food deliveries. The Elf Owl was busy capturing lots of food for his partner and for the young in the nest. Tucson Bird Alliance tells us more about these little Owls.

On our final visit, we saw a young Elf Owl inspecting the world. After seeing it, we realized that our visits would come to an end. That last night we heard a distant Great Horned Owl and the father did not make food deliveries for a very long time. The threat of a large predator in the valley was enough to shut down the movement and the hunting efforts of Elf Owl. We left knowing the next phase in that Owl’s family life was critical and we wanted to make sure we didn’t impact their world in any way.

Recently I shared some photos of Burrowing Owls in farmland near Tucson. I had been making visits in anticipation of a field trip to that area that I was to lead for the Southeastern Arizona Birding Festival. I captured the flight of one Burrowing Owl as it flew parallel to an irrigation ditch and in front of a field of Pima Cotton.

As it neared its burrow it moved over the irrigation canal and flew just above land and very close to the ground.

A friend and I visited some Great Horned Owls at Sweetwater Wetlands. This year’s young had recently begun living on their own, away from their parents. The parents, including Mom below, remained in the home territory for now. Perhaps that was a way to allow the young to return ‘home’ if they felt the need. You can see the vertical part in this bird’s breast feathers, denoting the brood patch that all female birds get in anticipation of breeding season.

The male Great Horned Owl was in a eucalyptus tree a short distance from the female. It was first light, and with the Owl perched in the shade, its pupils were dilated. Still, it was a summer morning in Tucson and hot already so this Owl was spreading its wings in an attempt to cool down.

I moved around to try to find an angle where the Owl was not obscured by leaves. I got to a nice spot and the Great Horned Owl closed both of its third eyelids, the nictitating membrane. Between that effect and the lighting, it results in a photo with a ghoulish effect.

I sure like those Owls!!

The female Blue Dasher, as with many other female species of Dragonflies, shares its mates’ name but not its colors. The female Blue Dasher is not blue. She does have the green eyes that the male does but she has an abdomen with dark and yellow-ish patterning. Her thorax has diagonal stripes.

Face-to-face with the female Blue Dasher, her slim body shape is hidden behind the large eyes and thorax. Her wings fill the image.

Dragonflies spend almost their entire life in water. Somewhat similar to the larval stage or other insects, dragonflies live as aquatic nymphs, going through a number of distinct molts during their aquatic life. It may take 1-5 years for the nymphs to be ready to emerge from the water. At that time, they’ll crawl out of the water and onto something hard like a plant stem, a rock or stick. Then, their hard outer shell splits and the adult Dragonfly emerges. The dry shell that remains is called an exuvia. That adult that we see flying around may typically live just a few weeks to a few months. Dragonfly experts may be able to determine the Dragonfly species by examining the exuvia, but I sure can’t.

Red Saddlebags Dragonflies are known for the large dark patches on their hind wings. Those patches are said to look like Saddlebags, and so their name! Male Red Saddlebags are, of course, red, but the females aren’t. Saddlebags are known for their endless flight, and rarely are found perched. So when I saw a female Saddlebags sitting still I was excited. After a short while, my excitement lessened when I realized that my good fortune was based on the misfortune of the Red Saddlebags- it was caught in a spiderweb!!

She was still alive, and tried to free herself occasionally, but without success. The web was stretched out across the water so it was beyond my reach. As they say, nature takes its course.

Earlier this summer I was in the Chiricahuas when I came across this Red Rock Skimmer. Red Rock Skimmers are a bright red Dragonfly that can be found perching on sun-warmed rocks and boulders next to streams.

Later that summer, I saw another Red Rock Skimmer warming up on a rock in the creek at Madera Canyon.

On a recent afternoon, I saw a Roseate Skimmer in a farmfield. Farm fields have irrigation ditches, flooded fields, and runoff that provides the necessary water for these insects. I really liked this one’s perch!

Here’s another look of this Roseate Skimmer from different angle. Behind it the green alfalfa field ends in dry soil.

Dragonflies add one more element of color and life to the natural world of our Sonoran Desert.

The yellow eyes and vertical streaking on its belly lets me know this is a juvenile bird. When it drinks, it spends about five minutes at the water’s edge. It will drink, then look around for about a minute before drinking again. As with most birds, it cannot swallow so it dips its bill in water, fills it, and then lifts its head to let the water dribble down its throat.

Like many others in Tucson, we have families of Gambel’s Quail. Often, at least one of the youngsters in my yard will have a white feather in its wing. I always smile at this special bird. I have yet to see an adult with that feature, so I don’t know whether the birds grow in regular feathers later, or whether the birds with the white feathers don’t survive long in the desert.

On July 5th I shared a post about a Cottontail Rabbit in my yard. You may remember the photo below and, if you wish, you can revisit that post here. https://www.danweiszphotography.com/p/one-cute-little-bunny

In that post I shared how rabbits sleep with their eyes open. They will close their nictitating membrane, to keep their eyes moist, but as favored prey they must always be on alert for potential predators. The day after I posted that story, I saw a rabbit ‘heat dumping’ and resting beneath the cool shade of potted plants on my porch. I was inside the house and could not see the rabbit’s head because it was behind the lavender leaves. I assumed that it was sleeping.

I ran for my camera, of course. The Cottontail lay still when I returned until I quietly raised the lens to take a photo. Then the rabbit quickly sat up!! Even behind the lavender bush, half asleep, and with me inside the house and behind double-paned glass, the rabbit had sensed my presence. Whether it was my movement or a shadow or whatever, it was fascinating to witness how alert the resting rabbit was to the slightest sense of danger.

At this time of year I see numerous posts on social media of local Tucsonans enjoying the presence of Bobcats and Bobcat kittens in their backyards. I am very envious. Although I know there are Bobcats in my neighborhood, I rarely see them here. The most recent observation came one year ago, in July 2025. The other day I went outside to collect the Oriole feeder in order to refill it and brought it into the kitchen. When I went back out to hang the feeder, I looked up and saw a Bobcat on my porch not ten feet from me. I stopped and apologized out loud, and then turned and walked back inside the house. The cat had watched me and then jumped onto the sitting wall.

I could barely see the cat from the kitchen so I ran to the other end of my house and looked through the bedroom window. The Bobcat was still there, staring intently at something. Then, it crouched down, looking ready to pounce!

Once it jumped, it disappeared. I couldn’t tell whether or not it had caught anything. I ran back to the kitchen but couldn’t see the Bobcat from there either. There was a group of Gambel’s Quail in the desert off of the porch that were standing around in a large circle putting up a loud fuss, but I never saw movement in the bushes to let me know whether the Bobcat was there or whether it had caught anything. I hope I don’t have to wait another year to get a glimpse of this special Cat.

The female Roseate Skimmer, on the other hand, is not rose-colored at all. Her abdomen is a burnt orange color. Roseate Skimmers, like most dragonflies, have a short adult lifespan ranging from a few weeks to perhaps a few months.

As adults, Dragonflies’ life activities are simple: find mates, lay eggs in water, and consume the local insect population. Some Dragonflies, like the Roseate Skimmer, lay their eggs in water by using a technique that has been described as water-tapping or tip-dipping. The female will fly in circles, and each time she will dip or swing her abdomen into the water to release her eggs. In the photo below, she is getting in position to drop towards the water, with her abdomen bent and the end pointing towards the water.

Dragonflies control the action of each wing independently of the others. Here she is just about to reach the water and her abdomen is ready to hit the water.

As she hits the water, a few eggs are washed out. A Roseate Skimmer’s egg laying session may last a few minutes but she will have cycled through the water tapping process hundreds of times during those short few minutes.

After each tap she rises in the air again and then drops back down to the water.

The Roseate Skimmer flicks the eggs in the water droplets forward to the plants and muddy shore where they will be safe. Aquatic predators cannot reach the eggs placed there.

Once she is done, the female will fly away. There is no parental care. The dragonfly eggs will develop into tiny aquatic nymphs. The adult female dragonfly goes on with her life. Over the next few weeks she will repeat this egg-dispersal process over and over again.

While the female is laying her eggs in the water, the male Roseate Skimmer usually hovers overhead guarding her. He will chase away rival males and other potential predators that come too close. When she finishes laying eggs, he too returns to his regular perches and keeps an eye on his territory.

The Smithsonian has many fun facts about Dragonflies. You can read more about these fascinating insects here.

One week later a friend and I drove through extensive farmland in Pinal County, south of Casa Grande, in hopes of seeing some early migrating Swainson’s. Once we turned off of I-10, we almost immediately spotted this adult Swainson’s Hawk perched in a mesquite tree. Adult Swainson’s Hawks weigh between 2-2.5 pounds and this bird sat lightly on a small twig at the top of the tree.

We remained in the car on the farm road and the Hawk watched us for a long time. Eventually, it began to switch its stance. You can see the twig bending to this action. (I last reported on Swainson’s Hawks migrating south through our area one year ago in August, 2025. You can revisit those two posts here and here.) Was this Swainson’s a sign that this year’s migration has begun?

After minutes of rousing and stretching, the Hawk took off! Looking at this bird’s plumage and comparing it to the first bird in this post, you can see what a typical adult Swainson’s Hawk looks like. There is a ‘bib’ on the upper half of its breast that the juvenile did not have. You can also see the dark eye of the adult compared to the lightly colored eye of the juvenile.

After reaching up high, the Hawk begins to lower its wings in a powerful sweeping push. Swainson’s Hawks have light wing linings on the front edge compared to the darker flight feathers on the back of the wing.

Lift-off!

Forward flight began. Was this bird leaving us? Was it alone or part of a larger group? The Swainson’s Hawk flew forward and then turned to its left, disappearing behind the neighboring mesquite trees.

We drove forward a bit and saw that our Swainson’s had landed nearby, joining another Swainson’s Hawk. Swainson’s Hawks summer in western and central North America, ranging through Canada and all the way up to Alaska. They winter in the Pampas grasslands of South America, mostly in Argentina. They migrate an incredibly long distance but travel only 100 miles per day. It was too early in the morning for our bird to begin today’s migration journey and it was likely still tired from yesterday’s long flight.

A second Swainson’s Hawk was peacefully perched on the opposite side of the same mesquite tree.

A mile or so beyond these two Hawks we saw a small flock of Swainson’s in the first farm field we drove by. They were too distant to take photos of but the birds were all perched on the ground in the field. While Swainson’s prefer to perch in trees, in wide-open landscapes like prairies or agricultural fields Swainson’s will perch on the ground. Later on, we saw one final Swainson’s Hawk on a telephone pole. It was very relaxed with one leg tucked up under its feathers.

For another description of what we saw that hot summer morning, take a look at my friend’s blog called Sonoran Images. It’s still hot in Tucson but Autumn is just around the corner!

If you are interetsted in learning more about the birds migrating overhead in your area tonight, check out Cornell Lab’s Migration Dashboard. The BirdCast’s project is truly fascinating and you can read about it here.

Those Western Screech Owlets were either orphans or young birds that have successfully gone through rehab. They were first placed with adult Western Screech Owls who fed and “raised” them. Then, in something called a “hacking process”, natural fledging is simulated through a soft release method. The Owlets are in an enclosure that has a safe nest box but it is opened to the outside, allowing the birds freedom of movement. The Owlets can come and go as they please, getting stronger and learning to fly and hunt on their own. Meanwhile, food is still provided through specialized openings in the enclosure so that the birds never associate humans with food.

When we were invited to see the Owlets, they had begun spending their nights outside of their enclosure and roosting during the daytime hidden in bougainvillea along the back wall.

I’ve mentioned the Arizona Raptor Center in recent posts. They are a non-profit group of falconers that rescues, rehabs and releases birds of prey using falconry techniques. Most of the Western Screech Owls that I saw arrive in the southern Arizona ARC group due to common and preventable reasons. Those include landscaping during spring breeding season which causes displacement. Dog and pet attacks are another cause. Rodenticide is yet another common reason.

These Western Screech Owlets are still showing their juvenile plumage. Soon, they will begin to grow in their adult plumage through the fall and winter and begin dispersing as well. They will reach their adult plumage and maturity by next summer.

You can learn more about the Arizona Raptor Center at their website.

A Western Pondhawk is a dragonfly that is common across the western United States. I spent a little over an hour at El Rio Preserve recently with some friends looking for dragonflies. We arrived very early but it was humid and became hot very, very quickly. We did find what we were looking for. Below is a male Western Pondhawk. Those deep blue eyes against the green face are just stunning. The soft bluish thorax and abdomen is described as pruinose. That means it has a white powdery or waxy substance covering it.

The female Western Pondhawk is also a stunning color in her own right. She has grayish eyes with a green face and a lime green thorax. Her abdomen is colored green and orange. The way the dragonfly’s faces are built makes the dragonfly below appear to be smiling, but that’s just me applying human emotions to an insect. Most dragonflies hold their wings flat and horizontal when they are perched, but Pondhawks’ wings have a slightly downward tilt.

This Western Pondhawk’s body is reflecting the bright early morning sunshine. Dragonflies generally rest with their wings set flat and perpendicular to their body. The Pondhawks’ wings, as noted above, have a downward tilt but also have a slight forward angle to them.

The female Western Pondhawk below is resting on a perch allowing us to see the forward angle to her wings. Dragonflies often return to a few favorite perches over and over again. If you see a dragonfly leaving a spot, be patient and the odds are that the dragonfly will return to that exact same spot very quickly.

Being face-to-face with the male western Pond Hawk gives one a real sense about how large the dragonfly’s eyes are. A dragonfly’s eyes take up almost its entire head. If human eyes were the same size proportionally, each eye would be the size of a basketball. In addition, our human eyes have only one lens in each eye. Dragonflies have up to 30,000 lenses per eye, the highest in the insect world. Those complex eyes combined with an incredibly fast processing speed and a nearly 360° field of view are part of what makes dragonflies such formidable hunters.

The female Western Pondhawk blends in with the green vegetation surrounding the water at El Rio Preserve. Recent rains have helped the desert to turn green in what some people call our “Second Spring”.

The Western Pondhawks were fairly common at El Rio that morning. I saw one male perched at the end of a twig and I thought I saw its face moving a little bit. Even with the telephoto lens on my camera, I couldn’t figure out what the dragonfly was doing while I was taking its photo. It looked like it was eating something, but all I could see was the greenery of the vegetation. It wasn’t until I got home and processed the photo on my computer that I saw that the male dragonfly had been consuming a female Western Pondhawk!

Dragonflies are incredible hunters. Estimates say that dragonflies are successful on over 95% of their hunts. If the dragonfly chases its prey, it’s going to catch the prey. Male dragonflies are also very territorial and it’s likely that this dragonfly victim had strayed into the territory of the male. Dragonflies are very aggressive and successful hunters. Pondhawks get their name because of their preferred habitat- ponds and still bodies of water. And Pondhawks are aggressive by nature, chasing down prey the same way that hawks do. This Western Pondhawk certainly lived up to its name acting like a hawk at a large pond.

The male Vermilion Flycatcher was also working the pond for food. There were plenty of insects to choose from.

A Lark Sparrow showed up for a drink. These birds have such a distinctive face.

A thirsty bird has to drink. In early July it had yet to rain in the desert and the days were hot! That stock pond was an incredible resource for so many birds.

One cow showed up during early morning hours when we sat by the pond. There were a lot of flies feeding on the moisture and nutrients on that cow’s face!!

A beautiful female Northern Yellow Warbler came in for a drink.

The dark black eye stands out against the soft yellow color of this Yellow Warbler.

Now that the summer rains have arrived, I am certain that the birds are all finding water sources throughout their habitat. The cattle still depend on this stock tank, but it is likely much less ‘birdy’ these days.

The creamy white petals surround a yellow center. Saguaro flowers provide rich nectar and nutritious pollen for desert animals.

The Thistle plant is not a cactus but because it is so spiny I’m including it with the other “cacti” to showcase its beautiful flower. This flower was in the Tanque Verde Wash in July.

In May, the Prickly Pear in my yard began flowering.

In June the Cholla began flowering.

A Pincushion Cactus waits until the first summer rains to bloom. A small nondescript cactus, it blends into the desert landscape until those showy blooms appear.

The Fishhook Barrel Cacti bloom in the late summer. Often this coincides with the beginning of the summer rains. The ring of flowers that bloom atop a Barrel Cactus is called a crown. Each flower stays open for a few days and the plant continues to bloom with flowers over several weeks.

The vivid colors and soft petals of the Barrel’s flowers contrast with the thick, sharp, fish hook-shaped spines surrounding them.

During a July walk in Madera Canyon, we came across a Tree Cholla with beautiful pink flowers.

During the summers, Cactus flowers in our harsh dry desert are very special. They arrive on plants with extreme survival traits and show a sudden, bold splash of color.