Mike in the Wild

You don't think of roadrunners living in any environment other than the desert, and I have to admit that's  where I usually see them.  But when I started spending summers in Prescott, in an area mostly populated with ponderosa pines and various oak trees, I was surprised to see roadrunners every once in a while.  The greater roadrunner, one of two species of the fast-running avian, actually lives in a range that stretches from northern California into Colorado and almost east to the Mississippi River, in habitat not exclusive to the desert southwest and Mexico.  So next time you're looking up at the high country's acorn woodpeckers and white-breasted nuthatches, don't forget to look down along the trail for a bird that's just as comfortable on the ground as you and I are. Greater roadrunner in Prescott.   Greater roadrunner in Prescott. Greater roadrunner in Prescott. Greater roadrunner in Prescott.

Prescott National Forest is a wonderland of activities for outdoor lovers, encompassing a vast range of mountains and grasslands in north central Arizona.   The Bradshaw and Black Hill Mountains may be the two most prominent ranges in the federally-managed lands, but Granite Mountain is probably the most distinct.  Close to the town of Prescott, the range is named after a sheer granite face in its southwest corner.   The higher elevations of the range are protected as a wilderness area, a place where peregrine falcons regularly nest.  But lower in the forest, a man-made lake is the center piece of Granite Basin Lake Recreation area.  Even though it's a small body of water, people still manage to boat on it and fish in it.  As for me, the wooded areas of both deciduous and conifer trees create an irresistible habitat for birds. There are the normal assortment of pine and oak tree-loving birds, like scrub jays, titmice, bushtits, nuthatches and ...

Three species of foxes live in Arizona: the red, the kit and the gray.  The red is relatively uncommon, only found in the northeastern corner of the state.  The kit is more widespread, venturing out of his desert den mostly at night.  However the gray fox is found throughout the Grand Canyon State.  And he is active during the day, so I shouldn't have been surprised when I spotted an individual during one of my birding expeditions in Prescott.   Folklore has made foxes famous for their cunning and trickery, and a fox guarding the hen house is some one that might exploit what he is protecting.  Since it was the very first time I've seen one of these crafty mammals in the wild, I'll assume he let me encounter him for his own secretive purposes. 

With a couple of years birding already under my belt, I usually aim for better shots of species I've previously encountered or targeted when I return to a favorite birding site.   While summer tanagers and blue grosbeaks were in my dreams  on my return to Prescott's Watson Lake this weekend, I was excited to see instead my very first sora. It's a bird that's never been on my radar, a member of a genus of waterbirds know as rails.  Part of a larger family of birds including gallinules and coots, I only heard of the rail rather late in my birding adventure.  In fact, I spotted him not too far from a flock of mallards, initially thinking that he was one of their ducklings.  But he stayed to himself in the shallow lake's grasses, flitting from clump to clump while flicking his tail feathers in the air.   While the sora is the most widespread of North America's rails, it is no wonder he wasn't on my short list as he tends to stay hidden in thick gr...

July in Prescott saw over six inches of summer monsoon rainfall - a much needed relief from June's brutally hot and dry conditions.  This weather phenomena repeats like clockwork and heralds not only a burst of colorful wildflowers and seasonal creeks but the reappearance of the rufous hummingbird. This bird passes through the Mountain States after breeding in the Pacific Northwest in the very early summer.  By late July many of the feeders in the Prescott area are dominated by the copper colored visitors, having pushed out most of the resident Anna's hummingbirds during their stays.  But by the end of the summer, most of the interlopers have moved on to their winter residences in Mexico and Latin America.   Like all migratory birds, they're extremely wary and distrusting of mankind.  And like all hummingbirds, they're fiercely territorial, not even sharing an area with members of their own species.  With patience and luck, I was able to get severa...