Last week I was fortunate to go out with Dr. Aaron Flesch and his Irish assistant Vincent. We headed out to Cienega Creek Preserve around 3 PM. Our first task was to hike out to saguaro cactus that had been identified in previous nights as potential elf owl homes. We searched the xeric riparian habitat for traces of owl poop. Elf owls, being one of the smallest owls also have very small poop. Being accustomed to looking at seabird poop, looking for tiny smears of elf owl poop took some adjustment (see picture). When we found sign we looked in nearby saguaros for cavities, preferably with a little bulge below the opening. A long telescoping pole was then used to carry a camera up the saguaro and into the hole to see who, if anyone was inside. We were fortunate with three positive elf owl IDs in the course of the afternoon and one Gila woodpecker family. The surprising thing to me about seeing these owls was the fact that they were stacked up inside the cactus. I had imagined that they would sit side by side, but nope, they are stacked right up. In the picture here you can see the corner of one of their eggs and on top of the eggs are two birds. The top bird is clear, but if you look, you can see that there is another bird underneath. The cactus apparently has such a high water content that it acts as insulation buffering the owls from the intense heat that we are experiencing right now. The other interesting fact was that all of the elf owl burrows were oriented in a generally west/ southwesterly direction, probably for temperature control.
Other birds seen while we were hiking around:
Coopers Hawk (and its nest)
Gila woodpecker (in cavity)
Grey Hawk
Curve-billed thrasher
Red-tailed hawk (pair and their nest)
Lesser goldfinch
Black-throated sparrow
Blue grosbeak
Ladder-backed woodpecker
Lesser nighthawk
White-winged dove
Yellow-breasted chat (heard only)
Great horned owl
Western screech owl (heard only)
After the sun went down we were trying to locate other possible nests, usually in areas where they had been heard before, we attempted to better pinpoint where the birds were nesting. This involved splitting up, playing elf owl calls and trying to determine where they were coming from. There were other variations of this at different sites that we hiked to in the preserve. This being Arizona in June, the sky was clear and the stars were bright. Mars and Jupiter were out early and very bright, Leo and others soon followed. I could hear other little animals scurrying around after dark, but except for one pocket mouse, never got to see what they were.
Pictured below are elf owl poop, saguaro cactus and an assortment of desert plants
Coopers Hawk (and its nest)
Gila woodpecker (in cavity)
Grey Hawk
Curve-billed thrasher
Red-tailed hawk (pair and their nest)
Lesser goldfinch
Black-throated sparrow
Blue grosbeak
Ladder-backed woodpecker
Lesser nighthawk
White-winged dove
Yellow-breasted chat (heard only)
Great horned owl
Western screech owl (heard only)
After the sun went down we were trying to locate other possible nests, usually in areas where they had been heard before, we attempted to better pinpoint where the birds were nesting. This involved splitting up, playing elf owl calls and trying to determine where they were coming from. There were other variations of this at different sites that we hiked to in the preserve. This being Arizona in June, the sky was clear and the stars were bright. Mars and Jupiter were out early and very bright, Leo and others soon followed. I could hear other little animals scurrying around after dark, but except for one pocket mouse, never got to see what they were.
Pictured below are elf owl poop, saguaro cactus and an assortment of desert plants