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 "cats", or the "pigs" ... and don't hug the trees!)

List updated May 2, 2012

MAMMALS Bat (species unknown) Bobcat Collared Peccary (Javelina) Coyote Pocket Mouse Desert Cottontail Harris' Antelope Ground Squirrel Black-Tailed Jackrabbit Mule Deer Rock Squirrel Round-Tail Ground Squirrel White-Throated Wood Rat (Pack Rat)   REPTILES Coachwhip Snake (Red Racer) Common Kingsnake Common Side-blotched Lizard Desert Spiny Lizard Desert Tortoise Earless Lizard Gopher Snake (Bull Snake) Night Snake Ornate Tree Lizard Scaled Lizard Tucson Banded Gecko Western Blind Snake Western Diamondback Rattlesnake Whiptail Lizard (Aspidoscelis sp.) Zebra-Tailed Lizard AMPHIBIANS Couch's Spadefoot Toad Red-Spotted Toad Sonoran Desert Toad   ARTHROPODS OF NOTE Bark Scorpion (poisonous) Black Widow spider (poisonous) Black Witch moth Brown (Violin) Spider (poisonous) Burrowing Wolf Spider (Geolucanus) Carolina Sphinx Moth Funnel Spider Huntsman Spider (Olios) Palo Verde Bark Beetle Cactus Longhorn Beetle Tarantula (just barely poisonous) Wind Scorpion

BIRDS Abert's Towhee American Goldfinch American Robin Anna's Hummingbird Ash-Throated Flycatcher Barn Swallow Bewick's Wren Black-Chinned Hummingbird Black-Headed Grosbeak Black Phoebe Black-Tailed Gnatcatcher Black-throated Gray Warbler Black-throated Sparrow Blue-Grey Gnatcatcher Broad-Billed Hummingbird Brewer's Sparrow Bronzed Cowbird Brown-Crested Flycatcher Brown-Headed Cowbird Bullock's Oriole Burrowing Owl (voice only) Cactus Wren Canyon Towhee Cardinal Chipping Sparrow Cliff Swallow Common Raven Cooper's Hawk Cordilleran Flycatcher Costa's Hummingbird Curve-Bill Thrasher Elf Owl Fox Sparrow Gamble's Quail Gila Woodpecker Gilded Flicker Golden Eagle Great Blue Heron Great Horned Owl Great-Tailed Grackle Green-Tailed Towhee Harrier Harris's Hawk Hermit Thrush Hooded Oriole House Finch House Sparrow House Wren Inca Dove Kestrel Ladder-Backed Woodpecker Lark Sparrow Lesser Goldfinch Lesser Nighthawk Lincoln's Sparrow Lucy's Warbler McGillivray's Warbler Merlin Mockingbird Mourning Dove Nashville Warbler Northern Flicker (red-shafted) Northern Harrier Northern Saw-whet Owl Orange-Crowned Warbler Poorwill Pyrrhuloxia Peregrine Falcon Phainopepla Pigeon Pine Sisken Plumbeous Vireo Prairie Falcon Purple Marten Red-naped Sapsucker Red-Tail Hawk Ringed Turtle Dove Roadrunner Rock Wren Rock Pigeon Ruby-Crowned Kinglet Rufous Hummingbird Rufous-Winged Sparrow Say's Phoebe Sharp-Shinned Hawk Spotted Towhee Starling Townsend's Warbler Turkey Vulture Vaux's Swift Verdin Violet-greem Swallow Warbling Vireo Western Screech Owl Western Tanager Western Wood Peewee White-Crowned Sparrow White-Throated Swift White-Winged Dove Wilson's Warbler Yellow-Rumped Warbler Yellow Warbler 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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