Gila County, home to the Pinal Mountains, Arizona

Monday, March 5, 2018
Arriving at the Russell Gulch (hot spot) at 8 a.m., Hinde Silver, Glenda Jones and I took time from birding some desert areas to check out the Gila County Landfill just off Russell Road. It's a good place to check for CHIHUAHUAN RAVEN, a US and Mexican resident, that is scarce in the Phoenix area.

As a beginning birder, I laughed when I heard that the species differs from the COMMON RAVEN by the bristles on its bill. Really?  Well, yes!  Really!  But the fact that it is more crow-sized (20") than the COMMON RAVEN (24") definitely helps when they can be located together at the same site, like a landfill. Its purple sheen also helps sort them from a crowd but the ID determination is actually made by the length of the bristles relative to the length of the bill. Chances are, you either already know that or don't care. But we actually had fun sorting the CHIHUAHUANs from the COMMON RAVENs.

Another help in knowing which is which occurs when the bird is preening and turning its neck or if the wind blows the feathers away from the neck. If white feathers show up, it's a CHIHUAHUAN. In flight, the Chihuahuan tail appears spatulate and squared off while the Common's tail is wedge-shaped.

CHIHUAHUAN RAVEN has shorter bill than COMMON with its nasal bristles extending out along the bill farther than on the COMMON RAVEN.

It wasn't necessary to enter the landfill; things have changed since last year. The Ravens congregated on the NW side not far from a pull off from the entry road where we had ready access to enough of them to find some CHIHUAHUAN RAVENs. Mission accomplished. To me, it seems to be a "Mexican" bird because it is more rare here than in southeastern Arizona.

Driving up the mountain on Russell Road produced a variety of song birds, quail, and raptors.

Songs rose from the gulch and occasionally I got a picture of the songster.

CANYON TOWHEE

CURVE-BILLED THRASHER

WOODHOUSE'S SCRUB JAY

ACORN WOODPECKER

HAIRY WOODPECKER

Once we reached 7,000' elevation and above, snow was not just found in patches across the mountain but was still frozen on the dirt road. Glenda, driving her SUV, handled the roads, some that were melting into mud, with a sure hand.

PINAL MOUNTAIN PEAK AREA

Birding around the top area provided us with some old familiar sounds. Snow crunching under our hiking boots...Abert's squirrels running over stiff dead leaves still in the snow...and a quiet that comes when the sounds stop.

Such varied habitat is so close to home!

'Til next time.

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