I hope everyone is enjoying this morning’s data dump. I am relaxing back home in Duluth and processing the last of my Tucson area birding excursions. This post reflects a fun birding excursion I took to the town of Oracle, which is 33 miles north of central Tucson. My research prior to our trip south had indicated there were two Lewis Woodpeckers hanging out with the Acorn Woodpeckers in and near the Oracle Town Park (Google Maps Link).

While Oracle may only be 33 miles north of Tucson, given its elevation you escape to the edge of the desert and find yourself surrounded with pine trees. The HUGE pine cones loaded with seeds attract Acorn Woodpeckers (year round residents) and the two Lewis Woodpeckers. Given how Acorn Woodpeckers like to store food (check out each of the million and one holes in the park’s power poles), I wonder if the Lewis Woodpeckers are “stealing” from their cousins. Regardless it was a fun afternoon excursion.

Acorn Woodpecker

Lewis Woodpecker

Shortly after sunrise this morning I found this pair of Great Horned Owls north of Tucson. They are obviously a pair, and the owls were sitting on opposite sides of the same tree. If I was back home, I would call the female’s coloration “Arctic Phase” (a recognized subspecies), but the desert is quite a long ways from the frozen north. Does anyone know if there is a “Desert Phase” Great Horned Owl?I assume the coloration helps the female owl blend in with the huge amount of grey perches and when she incubates and cares for the young owlets (not leaving the nest for 8+ weeks). Nesting has to be imminent.

Desert Phase Great Horned Owl … the female

Normal Color Great Horned Owl ... the male

Sometimes you just have to have a bath … with 1,000’s of your best friends. Such was the case when huge flocks of blackbirds returned to their favorite puddle. The blackbirds seemed to primarily bathe by species, and when it was the Yellow-Headed Blackbirds turn, they attacked this puddle with a vengeance! Amazingly about 30 minutes earlier there was not a single bird in sight near this puddle. Go figure?

I assume the huge flocks are because the northward migration should start real soon.

Yellow-Headed Blackbirds Taking a Bath! (see the movie … email subscribers)