Birds, Flowers, and Water - Spring in Sabino Canyon

Last week I went for a hike in Sabino Canyon, along the Bear Canyon trail. Before we even got to the trailhead, we saw this gorgeous roadrunner (Geococcyx californianus) who hung around for a bit, so we got a good look.

At first, its crest was up, creating the typical roadrunner profile.

I always think birds look silly when they look straight at you.

While I've seen roadrunners here several times, often literally running across the road,
I've never gotten a  particularly good look before, so I didn't realize they have a red stripe on their heads!

One of the highlights of the hike was the water, which was flowing throughout the canyon, a particularly pleasant sight and sound in arid Tucson.

Our next animal sighting was a hummingbird. Based on the dark head, purple spots, and white spot behind the eye, I think it was a black-chinned hummingbird (Archilochus alexandri). Here it's drinking from ocotillo (Fouquieria splendens) flowers.

Other fauna of note included the following lizard, which I believe is an ornate tree lizard (Urosaurus ornatus). I didn't notice the turquoise patch on its throat until I looked at my pictures. Apparently, biologists have studied this species extensively with regards to color variation, sexual dimorphism, and dominance (Thompson & Moore, 1991; Hews, Knapp & Moore, 1994).

The mammal of the day was a chipmunk. I think this one is a cliff chipmunk, Tamias dorsalis.

The trail leads to a set of pools and waterfalls, fed by snowmelt up in the mountains. There hasn't been much precipitation recently, so the flow rates were moderate.

The changing water levels leads to some interesting color effects.

A pair of mallards (Anas platyrhynchos) was swimming in the largest of the pools. They have clearly been fed by hikers in the past, causing them to approach humans eagerly.

In addition to all the water and animals, I also particularly enjoyed the spring flowers, including the flowering ocotillo that the hummingbird was drinking nectar from, above, and the poppy and cactus below.

Mexican gold poppy, a subspecies of the California poppy (Eschscholzia californica  mexicana)

Spinystar cactus (Escobaria vivipara)