Cochise County – Page 18

Kingfisher Pond.

Botanicals. In pairs, from top:

Longleaf Mexican- or Mormon tea (Ephedra trifurca)

Desert sumac (Rhus microphylla)

Arizona walnut (Juglans major)

All photos from the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area, Cochise County, Arizona. Please click any photo in the set for enlarged views.

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Bullock’s oriole (Icterus bullockii), feasting on western tent caterpillars, at the

San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area, Cochise County, Arizona.

The tent caterpillars—Malacosoma californicum—have thoroughly stripped this cottonwood of its recent spring growth, leaving only leaf petioles and central veins attached to the twigs. Most trees will recover after the annual caterpillar infestation and begin producing secondary leaves. But if infestations are particularly severe over consecutive years, affected trees can weaken and die.

Reboot: The San Pedro House western screech owl (Megascops kennicottii). I have decided to call him Wyatt.

Reboot: Desert stink beetle, probably Eleodes carbonaria, at San Pedro House, Cochise County, Arizona.

This time in a ready-aim-fire posture.

Cassin’s kingbird (Tyrannus vociferans) at

the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area, Cochise County, Arizona.

Desert stinker.

Probably Eleodes carbonaria, at San Pedro House, Cochise County, Arizona.

These guys are always in a hurry. Whenever I see one on the trail I mentally hear that Woodkid Run Boy Run song from a few years ago. Hell, it’s been used as a soundtrack for everything else, it might as well be the soundtrack for a scurrying darkling beetle.

Canyon towhee (Melozone fusca) at the

San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area, Cochise County, Arizona.

I love little brown birds, and this is quickly becoming a favorite. The Cornell Lab says to look for a bird “the same color as the dirt,” but I think they are beautifully colored, especially their butterscotch undertail feathers.

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