The riparian woodland Ms. Mesquitey and I were hiking in is at around 6,000 ft. in elevation. I think that may be the upper limits of the elf owls elevation range. Elf owls (Micrathene whitneyi) winter in southern Mexico then migrate in the spring to southern Arizona, southwest New Mexico and west Texas to an amazing bunch of biotic communities where they breed and summer over. Lucky us!
The photo is taken from Wikipedia. I thank the unknown photographer who took it in Madera Canyon of the Santa Rita Mountains and shared it. It is a beautiful photo of the elf owl perched by a hole in a sycamore tree. Thank you very much, unknown photographer.
Petey may be turning his skin into a field guide. A Peteyson Field Guide?! Oh dear. Curve billed thrashers, zone tailed hawks and box...
It feels like there have a been a couple false starts to fall, at least temperature wise, but maybe the cool days of autumn...
Petey wanders into the nearby hills and comes across a couple different species of native bunch grasses and tells us all about them.
