Wildlife Seen at the Birky House

(called the No-Petting Zoo because when you visit us you should not try to pet the "dogs", or the "cat", or the "pigs" ... and don't hug the trees!)

List updated Feb. 27, 2007

MAMMALS

  1. Bat (species unknown)
  2. Bobcat
  3. Collared Peccary (Javelina)
  4. Coyote
  5. Pocket Mouse
  6. Desert Cottontail
  7. Harris' Antelope Ground Squirrel
  8. Black-Tailed Jackrabbit
  9. Mule Deer
  10. Rock Squirrel
  11. Round-Tail Ground Squirrel
  12. White-Throated Wood Rat (Pack Rat)

 

REPTILES

  1. Common Kingsnake
  2. Desert Spiny Lizard
  3. Desert Tortoise
  4. Earless Lizard
  5. Gopher Snake (Bull Snake)
  6. Night Snake
  7. Scaled Lizard
  8. Tucson Banded Gecko
  9. Western Blind Snake
  10. Western Diamondback Rattlesnake
  11. Zebra-Tailed Lizard

AMPHIBIANS

  1. Couch's Spadefoot Toad
  2. Red-Spotted Toad

 

ARTHROPODS OF NOTE

  1. Bark Scorpion (poisonous)
  2. Black Widow spider (poisonous)
  3. Black Witch moth
  4. Brown (Violin) Spider (poisonous)
  5. Burrowing Wolf Spider (Geolucanus)
  6. Carolina Sphinx Moth
  7. Funnel Spider
  8. Huntsman Spider (Olios)
  9. Palo Verde Bark Beetle
  10. Cactus Longhorn Beetle
  11. Tarantula (just barely poisonous)
  12. Wind Scorpion

 BIRDS

  1. Abert's Towhee
  2. American Goldfinch
  3. Anna's Hummingbird
  4. Ash-Throated Flycatcher
  5. Barn Swallow
  6. Bewick's Wren
  7. Black-Chinned Hummingbird
  8. Black-Headed Grosbeak
  9. Black Phoebe
  10. Black-Tailed Gnatcatcher
  11. Black-throat ed Gray Warbler
  12. Blue-Grey Gnatcatcher
  13. Broad-Billed Hummingbird
  14. Brewer's Sparrow
  15. Bronzed Cowbird
  16. Brown-Crested Flycatcher
  17. Brown-Headed Cowbird
  18. Bullock's Oriole
  19. Burrowing Owl
  20. Cactus Wren
  21. Canyon Towhee
  22. Cardinal
  23. Chipping Sparrow
  24. Cliff Swallow
  25. Cooper's Hawk
  26. Cordilleran Flycatcher
  27. Costa's Hummingbird
  28. Curve-Bill Thrasher
  29. Elf Owl (voice only)
  30. Fox Sparrow
  31. Gamble's Quail
  32. Gilded Flicker
  33. Golden Eagle
  34. Great Blue Heron
  35. Great Horned Owl
  36. Great-Tailed Grackle
  37. Green-Tailed Towhee
  38. Harrier
  39. Harris Hawk
  40. Hermit Thrush
  41. Hooded Oriole
  42. House Finch
  43. House Sparrow
  44. Inca Dove
  45. Kestrel
  46. Ladder-Backed Woodpecker
  47. Lark Sparrow
  48. Lesser Goldfinch
  49. Lesser Nighthawk
  50. Lucy's Warbler
  51. McGillivray's Warbler
  52. Merlin
  53. Mockingbird
  54. Mourning Dove
  55. Nashville Warbler
  56. Northern Flicker
  57. Northern Goshawk
  58. Northern Saw-whet Owl
  59. Orange-Crowned Warbler
  60. Poorwill
  61. Pyrrhuloxia
  62. Peregrine Falcon
  63. Phainopepla
  64. Pigeon
  65. Pine Sisken
  66. Plumbeous Vireo
  67. Prairie Falcon
  68. Purple Marten
  69. Raven
  70. Red-Tail Hawk
  71. Roadrunner
  72. Rock Wren
  73. Ruby-Crowned Kingler
  74. Rufous Hummingbird
  75. Rufous-Winged Sparrow
  76. Sharp-Shinned Hawk
  77. Spotted Towhee
  78. Starling
  79. Turkey Vulture
  80. Vaux's Swift
  81. Verdin
  82. Warbling Viero
  83. Western Screech Owl
  84. Western Tanager
  85. Western Wood Peewee
  86. White-Crowned Sparrow
  87. White-Throated Swift
  88. White-Winged Dove
  89. Wilson's Warbler
  90. Yellow-Rumped Warbler
  91. Yellow Warbler
  92. Zone-Tailed Hawk

 

Wile E Coyote looking for the roadrunner (sorry, all our roadrunner pictures are blurred).

 

Desert cottontails, aka coyote chow, drinking at the birdbath.

 

Bob jumping on the wall for a dove ... missed it.

 

Our first bobcat, Bob, sleeping after eating six doves and part of a road-killed deer. In the winter of 2002-3 we had at least six different bobcats in the yard: three solo adults and one adult who brought her nearly-mature kittens on several occasions. All but one were observed lying beneath the wall until a dove lands on top of the wall facing the other direction, whereupon the bobcat leaps up to take the dove from behind. Other great sightings include (1) in December 2004, a female and two nearly-grown cubs play king-of-the-tree for over 30 minutes, taking turns climbing to the highest branches while the other two tred to knock it off, following by napping all day; (2) in February 2005, a male walking along the wall, stopping to spray on it, then calling to a female who was following with interest (we predict more babies later this year).

Bill with a four-foot bullsnake.

 

Babe, pregnant again. Javelinas are new-world distant relatives of true pigs.

 

Deer in the backyard.

Bushy-tailed woodrat in live trap, about to be deported for the crime of nesting in our attic.

  

Tucson banded gecko

Baby Western Diamondback Rattlesnake on the back porch, next to a cement block, looking for the missing woodrat.

 

Cactus Longhorn beetle.

 

Cactus Longhorn beetle on the back of Bill's hand.

 

Black widow.

 

Black witch moth, an occasional visitor from Mexico with a six-inch wingspan.

 

Wind scorpion, not poisonous but reportedly can give an unpleasant bite with their large jaws.

 

Jackrabbit at our birdbaths.

Paloverde Beetle

 

Tarantula

 

Baby tarantula 

Tarantula in burrow

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