Two Little Birds, Three Massive Saguaros, and Fog

The day after the storm was quite foggy, The light was very interesting, and varied considerably, minute to minute. This majestic 200 year old Saguaro cactus dominated this Sonoran Desert landscape. There were lots of birds in the vicinity. I am showing photos with birds present. Please let me know what kinds they are. They seemed to avoid people. The holes in the cactus are made by birds for nesting in the spring and shade in the hot summer months.

The bird is a Curve-billed Thrasher. They don't use holes for nests or roosts, but the saguaro makes for a convenient perch.

It's likely that Gila Woodpeckers made the holes. There is a set of very strong vertical wood strips in the trunk that provide the strength needed to hold the enormous weight of water in this plant. Only woodpeckers could cut through a few of those strips. the hole forms a wax lining, like the exterior skin that looks like a boot that one can see after a saguaro cactus dies...

Here's what Wikipedia says about the bird holes:

Nests

Native birds such as Gila woodpeckers, purple martins, house finches, and gilded flickers live inside holes in saguaros. Flickers excavate larger holes higher on the stem. The nest cavity is deep, the parents and young entirely hidden from view. The saguaro creates callus tissue on the wound. When the saguaro dies, and soft flesh rots the callus remains behind, a so called "saguaro boot," which was used by natives for storage.
The Gila woodpeckers[ambiguous] create new nest holes each season rather than reuse the old ones, leaving convenient nest holes for other animals, especially elf owls. In recent years, early-breeding, aggressive, non-native birds have taken over the nests to the detriment of elf owls who breed and nest later.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saguaro

100_2021_2

SAGUARO (Carnegiea gigantea)
"The saguaro can be a dominant feature of the landscape. But it almost always is accompanied by a high concentration of desert trees and subtrees, all of these being supported by the relatively high rainfall which occurs twice each year - in spring and in autumn. These trees act as "nurse plants" to the developing seedlings, which grow extremely slowly in their early years (see table below). The protection of a nurse plant helps to prevent the seedlings from being eaten by animals, and also provides shade and a more humus-rich, moisture-retentive soil in which the seedlings can develop."

Approximate developmental history of a saguaro
(varies according to moisture availability)

Age Height Developmental stage

10 years 4 cm
14 years 15 cm
35-40 years 180 cm
2.5 metres starts flowering
50 years 4 m
65 years 6 m develops first arm
85 years+ 7-8 m mature, branched adult

"Saguaros remain vulnerable to environmental damage throughout their lives. In particular, they can be blown down or broken by storm-force gusts of wind (see images below). They also can be damaged by lightning and by frosts in exceptionally cold years. Frost damage is probably responsible for the "sagging" and tapering of major branches, often seen near the edges of the saguaro's natural range."

www.biology.ed.ac.uk/research/groups/jdeacon/desbiome/sag...

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Taken on: December 31, 2010

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Two Birds, One Saguaro, and Fog

Two Birds

One Saguaro

and Fog

Birders

Needed

please

identify

these

birds

Three

Three Saguaros « less

Sets appears in: • Cactus Plants • Sonoran Desert After A Winter 2010 Storm And Hard Freeze more » • Weather • Sky • Birds 2008 Through 2014 « less

Groups appears in: • Tucson, Arizona • Cactus more » • Arizona Nature • Arizona Flora • Arizona Digital Photographers • Sonoran Desert • The Look of Southwest [theme: Southwest USA] • Arizona Sky • Everything Arizona! « less

Camera: Kodak EasyShare Z915, f/4.4, 1/500 sec, 36.6mm, ISO 80 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Kodak EasyShare Z915
Aperture:	f/4.4
Exposure Time:	0.002 sec (1/500)
Focal Length:	36.6mm
ISO:	80
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Program AE
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	QuickTime 7.6.6
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