BIRDS OF THE MEXICAN BOUNDARY, AND THE LOWER SOUTHWEST.

Look quickly at cardinals for they do not tarry long in one spot. For a moment the male matches his feathered flame to the glistening red pyracantha berries.

Rebel with a cause

"This property is my land!" The chattering chipmunk confronts his busy visitor who strayed on his sunny front porch in the aspen pole homestead in Arizona's high country.

TAKE TIME TO SEE

It seems so hard to understand As I look out across the land That all I view belongs to me. I ought to take more time to see!

The distant hills and mountains high, The rolling clouds and bright blue sky, No one can take these views from me As long as I have eyes to see.

A timid deer with haunting look Who stands refreshed by yonder brook Knows not that he belongs to me. Oh, what a thrilling sight to see!

The song of birds so gay and clear That fill the morning air with cheer, And fragrant flowers of every hue, That stand erect bedecked with dew. All these and more belong to me, If I but use my eyes to see.

When evening shadows gather nigh And twinkling stars light up the sky I hear My Master say to me "I made it all for you to see!" My heart grows warm with faith and pride To know that He is by my side.

Early natural historians were as intrigued with Arizona's rich and varied bird life as people are today. The beauty and rarity of many of the avian species found in Arizona attracted early artists, nature lovers, and scientists to the state. Artists captured the beauty of many of our birds on canvas, nature lovers were inspired to write about them, and scientists began gathering information on the natural history of individual species.

Mexican Boundary Lower Southwest Bird

The prints reproduced in the accompanying article were created for a faunal survey of the United StatesMexican boundary conducted in 1855-56. The survey was under the supervision of Spencer F. Baird, who was director of the Smithsonian Institution (or U. S. National Museum), and much of our early Arizona bird knowledge must be accredited to his efforts. He commissioned military surgeons at various outpost forts to collect and preserve natural history material for deposition in the National Museum.

Fort Lowell, near Tucson, proved to be an ornithological mecca. Nine bird forms new to science were collected near that locality and sent back to Washington. One new species, the Rufous-winged Sparrow, was discovered near the fort along Rillito Creek in 1886 by Major Charles Bendire. Shortly after that, the species disappeared from Arizona and was not rediscovered until 50 years later just east of Tucson. The authors of Birds of Arizona feel that heavy grazing was the primary factor responsible for the disappearance of this species, but it was probably a combination of overgrazing and intermittent drought. Lack of or scanty amounts of summer rain drastically reduces nesting success of the Rufous-winged Sparrow.

Early naturalists exposed themselves to the hazards of the nomadic Apaches who were the predators among the dove-like sedentary tribes. The following is from Major Bendire's writings and serves to illustrate the perils of early scientific exploration in Arizona: "On April 22, 1872, while riding along the banks of Rillito Creek, which even at that early date had dried up, leaving only a stagnant water hole here and there, I noticed one of these Black Hawks flying up the creek bed, and being at leisure, I followed it. Some five miles above my camp, near the entrance to Sahuaritto Pass, it perched on a dead limb of a large cottonwood tree on the west side of the creek. On

By Dr. Robert D. Ohmart

nearing this, I saw an old and bulky nest placed in a fork close to the main trunk of the tree, about 40 feet up, and the mate of the bird I had been following sitting on the nest. As my principal object was to study the nesting habits of our birds, as well as to collect their eggs, I refrained from shooting either of them, which I might easily have done at the time. On climbing to the nest I found it contained but a single, pale, blue white, unspotted egg. The old birds during this time were circling around above the tree giving vent to shrill screams. Being some distance from camp I took this egg, and had not moved more than a hundred yards away from the tree before one of the birds, presumably the female, settled on the nest again as if nothing had happened. As the set was certainly not complete, I concluded to pay them a second visit and secure the other eggs and one of the parent birds also. On reaching camp and blowing the egg, I found it quite fresh. "On May 3, I paid a second visit to this locality and found one of the birds on the nest, where it remained until I rode up to the tree and rapped on it with the butt of my shotgun. This caused it to fly off about 50 yards farther up on the opposite side of the dry creek bed, where it alighted in a smaller tree. As the bird appeared so very tame I concluded to examine the nest before attempting to secure the parent, and it was well I did so. Climbing to the nest I found another egg, and at the same instant saw from my elevated position something else which could not have been observed from the ground, namely, several Apache Indians crouched down on the side of a little canyon which opened into the creek bed about 80 yards farther up. They were evidently watching me, their heads being raised just to a level with the top of the canyon.

Text continued on page 34

FEBRUARY 1972

The palest of the thrashers is usually found in the driest desert regions. This species runs more and flies less than the other thrashers as it moves from one small bush to another.

Southern Arizona's natural and cultivated lands nurture the plant life for a balanced ecosystem.

Typical riparian habitat with essential watercourse assures favorable water bird environment.

about more birds . . .

Page 10 The Harris Hawk frequently builds its nest in saguaros and is often seen perched atop a saguaro or tree. The chestnut feathers and the legs and bend of the wings distinguish this dark hawk from others.

The Black-crowned Night Heron nests in colonies along rivers and lakes in the Southwest, but the destruction of nesting habitat has changed many of their breeding colonies. Their habit of loud calling in the late evening has given them the generic name of Nycticorax, meaning "raven of the night."

Western Bluebirds are quite variable in coloration. Both sexes show red below while the male additionally shows red on the back. The blue is always deeper in color than that of the Mountain Bluebird.

Page 11 The Western Mockingbird is a vivacious, rollicking creature, especially during his carefree courting season. His power of mimicry is amazing, and even without it his own songs are enchanting, even during humans' normal sleeping hours. Arizona suburban residents witness the amusing dive-bombing routine involving cats and mockingbirds. The feline hunter crawls away from the relays of sharp-beaked birds zooming at his kitty's hind quarters.

The Goshawk (gos-hawk) is a large mountain-dwelling accipter. Its nest of sticks is built high in a conifer where the female incubates and cares for the young while the smaller male hunts and brings home the "bacon."

A smaller relative, the glamorously feathered Cooper's Hawk (page 4), is the notorious chicken-hawk of the Southwest.

The Black-throated Sparrow is a well adapted desert species whose diet consists primarily of seeds, and insects when available. It has a very efficient kidney for eliminating salts and conserving water. This bird has a bunch of insect groceries for its growing nestlings.

Photographer Dan Fischer has been "shooting" birds with his camera for more than two decades and considers this one of the most unusual sights he's encountered in birdland. The Lesser Scaup duckling is enjoying his "piggy-back" ferry. This species is a common winter resident in open water in the Southwest.

Page 34 Contrary to the belief of many, the Bald Eagle is primarily a carrion eater like the vultures. Nevertheless, it is still shot on sight in many ranching communities. Immature birds of this species are frequently mistaken for Golden Eagles and shot.

Page 35 The Red-faced Warbler is a localized and beautiful species found in some mountain ranges of the Southwest. Although it spends much of its time gleaning insects from the foliage high in the trees, its nest is placed on the ground at the base of a grass clump.

The Wied's Crested Flycatcher is the largest of the three crested flycatchers found in Arizona. All the species in this genus (Myiarchus) are cavity nesters, and frequently an individual will adorn the inside of its cavity with the shed skin of a snake.

Page 36 The Coppery-tailed Trogon. Although this bird is shown in the print portfolio of this edition, we take special pride in reproducing this photograph because it shows there really is such a rare bird, and it took a patient and expert photographer to document it. This one was taken in the Chiricahua Mountains mixed forests of beautiful pine-oak woodland in the deep canyons at the same elevation with broadleaved deciduous riparian trees.

The Vermilion Flycatcher is a handsome and common species around ponds or streams in the lowlands of the Southwest. Its generic name is Pyrocephalus, meaning "fire head."

The Broad-tailed Hummingbird is a common Western resident along moist canyons at higher elevations. A whistling sound is made by the wings of this species in flight. The males will defend and display in an area along a stream by making dive bombs of 50 feet or more straight down and back up.

Below A female Broad-tailed Hummingbird feeds her two young. The eggs of this species are about the size of a brown bean and the newly hatched young are smaller than a honey bee.

Broad-tailed Hummingbird Black-chinned Hummingbird

The Black-chinned Hummingbird is a desert species confined to moist situations. The iridescent gorget or throat patch appears black until the sun strikes it and then it shows as a deep purple.

Mountain Chickadee

The birds on this page are all representatives of the Chickadee (Paridae) family.

The Mountain Chickadee lives in the coniferous forests of the West and builds its nest in abandoned holes of woodpeckers and nuthatches. It is the only chickadee with a white line above the eye.

Bridled Titmouse

The Bridled Titmouse is a hole nesting species that is common in the upper Sonoran woodlands of southern Arizona.

Verdin

The Verdin is a common desert species that constructs a grapefruitsized nest of spinescent branches. The entrance is at the bottom of the sphere. The structure also serves as a roost nest to escape heat loss during the cold winter nights.

Quiet road through a high canyon woodland The Black-eared Bushtit is a morph or variation of the Common Bushtit. They were once thought separate species, but interbreed freely. These tiny birds build a pendulous nest of lichens and spiderwebs which is about 8 inches deep.

Black-eared Bushtit

Lawrence's Goldfinch

A resident of the Southwest and Mexico. It is a close relative of the American Goldfinch, but has less contrasting colors.

The Lesser Goldfinch is found primarily near desert streams throughout Arizona. Goldfinches are frequently called wild canaries by people unfamiliar with them.

The White-collared Seedeaters are tiny finches found along the border in south Texas. They are frequently seen picking seeds while clinging to grass heads; the grass stem sometimes being so bowed that the bird is almost lying on the ground.

The American Goldfinch is one of the most attractive of the North American finches. After the breeding season, the male molts out of the plumage shown here and wears a duller dress.

Great Horned Owl

The Great Horned Owl reigns terror on rodent populations. At night these birds, with their keen eyesight and super sensitive hearing, locate the pitter patter of little feet and silently swoop with talons extended to quickly dispatch the prey.

Eastern Screech Owl

The Eastern Screech Owl displays a red phase while the same species in the West is grey. The two forms interbreed in the Big Bend area of West Texas. Crickets and beetles form the main diet of this miniature owl.

Burrowing Owls

The Burrowing Owl is a western species whose population numbers were greatly reduced when government trappers and ranchers virtually eliminated the prairie dog, whose holes the owl used as nesting sites. These owls, on long legs, bob up and down as if keeping time to their own music. The female stands oblique the male stands more upright.

Golden-fronted Woodpecker

The Golden-fronted Woodpecker is a common Mexican species which has flourished at the expense of other avian species in the sparce second-growth timber which has developed since chopping and burning of the mature forests.

Ladder-backed Woodpecker

The Ladder-back is common in the deserts of Arizona. This small woodpecker frequently excavates its nest cavity in yucca stalks.

Nuttall's Woodpecker

The Nuttall's Woodpecker is primarily found in California and Northern Baja California. Its face is blacker than the Ladder-backed Woodpecker. The females of both species lack the red crown.

Gila Woodpecker

The Gila Woodpecker is primarily a species found in Saguaro cactus stands. This woodpecker and the Gilded Flicker are the two species which excavate most of the nest holes in saguaros. After they abandon them the holes are used by owls, flycatchers, and other hole nesting birds.

A common bird in the Upper Sonoran chaparral. Pink bill and streaked back distinguish it from a junco. The blackening is much reduced in the female.

A common species in Southern Texas and virtually country wide in Mexico. It is a very secretive, shy bird of dense shrubbery. Frequently confused with Green-tailed Towhee.

Upper Sonoran Birdland. HELGA TEIWES The Lazuli Bunting was once geographically isolated by the tall grass plains from the much different Indigo Bunting. Man's tree and shrub planting influence has permitted broad overlap range in these two forms and they are now hybridizing with one another.

The Coppery-tailed Trogon is the only trogon to get into the United States. The species lays two white eggs in a tree cavity. Fruits and insects compose the diet. Despite its bright coloration birdwatchers are lucky to catch a mere glance.

Red-billed Pigeon

A lowland species found in the arid parts of Mexico, exclusive of Baja California and Northern Sonora.

Green Kingfisher

The Green Kingfisher is sparrow-sized and feeds on minnows and insects along small running brooks. It is a rare species in Arizona and Texas.

Cassin's Kingbird showing its white throat and orange-yellow crown which is normally concealed by the lateral greenish-grey plumage. Sexes are alike. The black tail is square or truncate with white lateral margins.

Overleaf Pages 24-25: The great Sonoran Desert of the southwestern United States comes to a majestic climax at the rugged mile-high Santa Catalina Mountains. The Arizona state tree, the Palo Verde, is outlined by the pattern of a fresh spring snowfall.

The Tropical and the Cassin's Kingbirds are two of the five kingbirds found in Arizona. The former is found in very low numbers around standing waters in the southern part of the state. The deeply notched brown tail and lack of white on the outer detail distinguishes the male from other kingbirds.

Scrub Jay

The Scrub Jay has an interesting distribution in that it ranges over the West and Southwest, and a small isolated population is found in Florida. In the Florida birds, some siblings of past years remain with their parents and attempt to help raise their nestling brothers. Little is known about the Southwestern birds.

Phainopepla

The Phainopepla (fain-o-pepla) is a member of the silky flycatcher family (Ptilogonatidae). Its diet consists of flying insects and berries. The brown female with the crest erected is shown. The male is glossy black with orange-red eyes and white windows in the wings.

Scott's Oriole

The Scott's Oriole shows the black on both ends and lemon yellow mid-section. This oriole, as most, weaves a pendulous nest with an entrance placed near the top.

The Blue Grosbeak is a common summer resident in Arizona. Favors moist situations along streams and in mesquite-farmland situations.

Varied Bunting

The Varied Bunting has recently begun to appear and breed locally along dry ocotillo-covered slopes in southern Arizona.

Coronado National Forest - Ft. Huachuca Mts. Upper Sonoran Life Zone habitat.

Arizona Jay

The Arizona Jay, sometimes called Mexican Jay, is a common resident of the live oaks and is seldom found outside the Upper Sonoran Zone in Arizona. It is a flocking species and during the nesting season members of the flock commonly help feed the young of other flock members.

Black-vented Oriole

The Black-vented Oriole is a species found in the mountains and plateau country of Mexico.

The Curve-billed Thrasher is a common desert bird that can frequently be heard emitting the "wolf whistle." The nests are placed in cholla cactus where a peek may leave one with a face or handful of spines.A common south Texas-Mexican resident, whose range overlaps with the similar brown thrasher. Song and behavior are different enough to prevent massive hybridization between the two species.

Long-billed Thrasher

The gray-collared Becard (top, female) a close relative of the Rose-throated, is a Mexican species which has not yet been reported in the United States.

The Rose-throated Becard (rhymes with checkered; center, male) is a relative of the tyrant flycatchers. A few individuals of this species construct their two foot long pendulous nests of tree bark from the periphery of tall cottonwoods near streams in southern Arizona.

The Pale-throated Flycatcher (lower) has been reported in Arizona officially but once. The species may be more common than indicated by that one specimen. It differs from the more common Ash-throated Flycatcher only in having a bright orange mouth lining and a unique call.

... about the special bird prints

Rare indeed are prints of such fidelity to form and color. The reproductions were made from colored plates from a volume of The United States-Mexican Boundary Survey done in the mid-1800s. The edition was very limited and the plates were printed by original stone-surface litho process and then hand colored by artists whose names were never recorded in the volumes. In my opinion these bird portraits have a quality not found even in works of the universally known John James Audubon. . . . JOSEPH STACEY

Blue-crowned Motmot

The Blue-crowned Motmot is a lowland bird of the deep, heavy shadowed forests of Eastern Mexico. The tail feathers grow in normally and the vanes are then plucked from the shaft by the bird to give them a racket-like appearance.

BIRDLAND from page 11

"In those days Apache Indians were not the most desirable neighbors, especially when one was up a tree and unarmed; I therefore descended as leisurely as possible, knowing that if I showed any especial haste in getting down they would suspect me of having seen them; the egg I had placed in my mouth as the quickest and safest way that I could think of to dispose of it and rather an uncomfortable large mouthful, it was, too nevertheless I reached the ground safely, and, with my horse and shotgun, lost no time in getting to high and open ground. I returned to the place within an hour and a half looking for the Indians, but what followed has no bearing upon my subject. I only mention the episode to account for not having secured one of the parents of these eggs. I found it no easy matter to remove the egg from my mouth without injury, but I finally succeeded, though my jaws ached for sometime afterward. On blowing it the next day I found it slightly incubated."

Apache supremacy prevailed for several years after this incident, and it was not until 1886 that their cunning and fearless leader, Geronimo, and his warriors were forced to surrender. Shortly thereafter, Fort Lowell was abandoned and turned back to the command of the scorpions and lizards.

At the beginning of this century, man's influence was already beginning to have deleterious effects on the wildlife of the state. Removal of grass cover by domestic livestock led to a dramatic decline of the Masked Bobwhite, and eventually caused the extirpation of this species in Arizona. The nomadic wanderings of the Thickbilled Parrot used to bring this species into Arizona as it searched for new pine-cone crops. But the disappearance of the Imperial Ivory-billed Woodpecker, whose abandoned holes were used for nest sites by the parrot, has now prevented the parrots from wandering as far north as they previously did. Extensive habitat modification of mature timber stands through logging, burning and homesteading was probably the primary factor in the disappearance of the woodpecker. Little did man realize, and in general did he care, that many of these avian species were precariously balanced between survival and extinction and that only a small amount of habitat change could result in a species' annihilation. These problems, resulting from man's lack of ecological understanding, are everywhere today and pose even greater threats now that we have developed more rapid and efficient methods for altering the landscape. A case in point is a desert stream, which often sustains a number of rare animal forms. The survival or death of the stream may depend upon a small area of grass which

Red-faced Warbler Weid's Crested Flycatcher

1970 Index to Arizona Highways $1.50 Please make check payable to the Arizona State Library Association and mail the order to Department of Library and Archives, 3rd Floor State Capitol, Phoenix, Arizona 85007.

is the watershed feeding the stream. Removal of the watershed results in large scale erosion and the complete destruction of the water source and plant life supporting various animals. Restoration and healing of the desert habitat is very slow. It has been estimated that in the absence of man's influence, it takes a thousand years for an inch of topsoil to form in the desert. Both plants and animals are absolutely dependent on adequate soil; thus the presence or absence of living things reflects our management of their habitat. Most of our desert streams and rivers are now intermittent, dry, or doomed because we were unaware that large scale grass removal results in both soil destruction through massive erosion and loss of a continuous water supply.

There is a tremendous diversity of habitats in Arizona. In the short distance of a hundred miles it is possible to progress from the desert floor, with its Cactus Wrens and Rufous-winged Sparrows, to dense stands of blue spruce harboring Blue Grouse and Red Crossbills. C. Hart Merriam in 1889 devised a classic approach to describing the various habitats in Arizona. He conceived his classification while working in the San Francisco Mountains near Flagstaff. His concept, now known as Merriam's Life Zones, is still useful when referring to the plant associations in the Southwest. The chart accompanying this article illustrates how these Zones are "stacked" one on another. For example, a drive from the desert floor near Tucson to the top of the Santa Catalina Mountains is similar to a journey from Arizona to northern Canada. The same habitat types are passed through regardless of which trip one takes. The primary factor responsible for keeping the desert vegetation from moving to higher elevations is temperature, whereas vegetation at higher elevations is prevented from descending to lower slopes by available soil moisture. The plant communities or associations in each zone contain a characteristic group of animals whose existence depends upon particular plants. Thus, the diverse habitats found in Arizona produce in turn a great variety of animal life.

A number of geographical and topographical features are partially responsible for producing our tremendous avian diversity. The Rocky Mountain chain terminates near the northern part of the state, thus extending the southern limits of "snow birds" such as the Northern Three-toed Woodpecker, Grey Jay, Clark's Nutcracker, Rosy Finch and Blue Grouse into Arizona. On the other hand, the mountain-dwelling Olive and Red-faced Warblers of Mexico find their way into the southern mountains of the state from the Sierra Madre de Occidental mountain range which terminates just south of Arizona's state line. The Mexican influence is also seen in the extension of the Sonoran Desert into southern Arizona which brings us such exotic species as the Five-striped Sparrow, Varied Bunting, Rufous-winged Sparrow, Ashthroated Flycatcher and Elf Owl. It is a delight to see the large eyes of a tiny Elf Owl peering from a cavity in a giant saguaro.

Isolated riparian situations occur throughout the Sonoran Desert of southern Arizona, providing living conditions for such species as the Zone-tailed Hawk, Black Hawk, Gray Hawk, Rose-throated Becard, Thickbilled Kingbird, Coppery-tailed Trogon, Sulfur-bellied Flycatcher and Wied's Crested Flycatcher. Some birds which require standing water such as the Black-bellied Tree Duck and Tropical Kingbird are found in low numbers around isolated ponds in the southern part of the state. These two species, along with the Thick-billed Kingbird, have been increasing in numbers in Arizona; this may be explained by man's expanding agricultural activities in the Sonoran Desert. Probably the desert was once a fairly effective geographical barrier to these species, which cannot tolerate strictly arid conditions. However, the once prohibitive desert is now broken by farmland, and more individuals of these tropical species are moving north into Arizona. Another geographical factor causing the appearance of unusual avian forms in the state is the Baja peninsula which acts as a trap, funneling some shore and sea birds north where they eventually find themselves along the Colorado River. Many marine forms such as cormorants, gulls, terns and pelicans find temporary refuge from arid desert conditions around water impoundments.

The extensive grasslands in the northeast and southeast corners of the state attract such species as the Scaled Quail, Chestnut-colored Longspurs, Baird's Sparrow, and Botteri's Sparrow. At slightly higher elevations where the oaks mingle with the grasses the scratch signs of the ellusive Mearns' Quail can be found in the dry soil where the birds have sought the succulent bulbs of nutgrasses. With a little luck the quail may be seen near a clearing as they search for food, but usually a lot of walking results in nothing or the roar of wings as the birds explode from under the feet of the startled observer.

Man is the only animal that conforms to political boundaries, and those people who are motivated to keep a U. S. bird list must visit this state of diverse habitats where they find a rich avifauna. Differently motivated bird fanciers also eventually find themselves visiting Arizona to behold the wondrous bird life and magnificent scenery.

Because of the paucity of desert streams and the fragility of desert grasslands, many of these avian species, especially those which have strict habitat requirements, are in a precarious position. Arizonans are charged with the tremendous responsibility of guarding and preserving this wonderland of wildlife for generations to come. State and Federal agencies, along with private groups, have made great strides in the direction of habitat preservation and management, but the ever-increasing demands of a growing human population engulf thousands of acres of Arizona habitat annually.

Many people today think the term ecology simply means the removal and recycling of glass and cans from the environment. But if the zoning laws are not changed there will be no habitat left for these animals to live and reproduce in, and the policing efforts of these concerned citizens will be for naught. Ecology is the study of an organism in relation to its environment. If the environment is houses and pavement the animals will be absent there are no Rufous-winged Sparrows in downtown Tucson. Man frequently wants his house where other animals have theirs and seldom do the little animals win.

A PYRAMID OF LIFE

Dr. Robert D. Ohmart was born in the shortgrass plains of eastern New Mexico, where he grew up among Scaled Quail, Horned Larks, prairie dogs and pronghorn antelope. He attended public schools at Carlsbad, and college at New Mexico State University at Las Cruces. He obtained his B.S. (Wildlife Management) in 1961, and his M.S. (Biology) in 1963. He then entered the University of Arizona at Tucson where he obtained his Ph.D. (Vertebrate Zoology) in 1969. From there, Dr. Ohmart accepted a United States Public Health Service Fellowship for two years of postdoctoral training at the University of California at Davis working with a noted behaviorist, Dr. William J. Hamilton III. Dr. Ohmart then joined the faculty at Arizona State University in September of 1970 to assume the responsibilities of directing the newly developed wildlife biology program. The Zoology Department at Arizona State University consists of 23 faculty members, all of whom hold doctoral degrees. Dr. Shelby D. Gerking is the Chairman. The department is extremely strong in such areas as genetics, aquatic and terrestrial entomology, fisheries biology, developmental biology, and environmental biology. Active programs of teaching and research are manifested throughout the department.

There is an idealized profile of a high mountain range and its outwash plain, all typical of southeastern Arizona. It aims to show to the exploring field naturalist the orderly manner in which the various physical divisions tend to present themselves. This diagram might well be regarded the pyramid of life of that desert country. The biotic foundation could readily be considered the underground water table. Above this base occur layers of raw soil material, over which is spread a thin film of topsoil containing its

MOUNTAINS FOOTHILLS

vital, plant-soluble biochemicals. On this grows the skin of vegetation, which in turn supports the endless array of living things, including insects and all the larger animals. Individually these organisms are primarily obligates of food and the arrangement of the supply of this is a most influential element in their survival, and therefore evolution; this causes many organisms, especially the larger, higher forms, as it were, to stratify themselves on our pyramid of life according to food requirements. This is especially noteworthy in regards to the food needs for the offspring of birds which causes each species to nest only in areas producing the properly balanced nutrition. On the landscape of this pyramid an almost universal element is grass of various kinds.

The information and concept for this chart is reproduced through the courtesy of the copyright owners of the book ARIZONA AND ITS BIRD LIFE. Originally compiled and authored by Herbert Brandt this volume is still regarded as one of the most authoritative and most significant books about Southwestern birds. It was published in 1951 by THE BIRD RESEARCH FOUNDATION, CLEVELAND, OHIO. It is now out of print and considered a choice collector's item. A report on the book and the original format of the chart was used in ARIZONA HIGHWAYS, May, 1952.

RANGE OF THE CREOSOTEBUSH ASSOCIATION

IN PURE STANDS

NO DOMINANT BIRD

CULTIVATED TOWN AND GARDEN ASSOCIATION

BARN SWALLOW

INCA DOVE

SAY PHOEBE

ARIZONA CARDINAL

ENGLISH SPARROW

SONORA GRACKLE

IRRIGATED FIELD AND POND ASSOCIATION

FLORIDA GALLINULE

BLACK-BELLIED TREE DUCK

NEW MEXICAN DUCK

RUDDY DUCK

UTAH RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD

AMERICAN COOT

SONORA YELLOW-THROAT

TUCSON SONG SPARROW

WESTERN MEADOWLARK

RAINFALL 14 INCHES GRASSLANDS RAINFALL 13 INCHES RAINFALL 11.50 INCHES DESERTS RAINFALL 11.50 INCHES

L, UPPER SONORAN DIVISION

LOWER AUSTRAL, LOWER SONORAN DIVISION

DESERT

IN RANGE AND OUTWASH BASIN, SHOWING PRIMARY PHYSICAL DIVISIONS, ALTITUDINAL T PLANTS, 24 BIRD-NESTING ASSOCIATIONS, PROMINENT BIRDS PECULIAR TO EACH, LAND IL TYPICAL OF SOUTHEASTERN ARIZONA