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Flora and Fauna of Ahwatukee Foothills, AZ

The Ahwatukee Foothills is a beautiful place to live. Just take a look at these photos which were taken in yards and along sidewalks everywhere.
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An American Kestrel is wary of my approach from below. I see these every once in a while.

american-kestrel
Fiddleneck grow in one spot in my backyard.

backlit-fiddleneck
Brittlebush are everywhere in Ahwatukee. They grow large without any care whatsoever.

brittlebush-flower

This butterfly arrived at my bird of paradise rght after the female hummingbird left.

butterfly-on-bird-of-paradise


cactus-wren-nest
Cactus wrens are very common and not too skittish. They love peanuts.

cactus-wren

California poppies are much more orange than Mexican gold poppies. Here I have one of each next to each other in my backyard.

california-and-mexica-gold-poppies
Take a look at the beak on this crissal thrasher. It had such a severe curve that he couldn't close it all the way. He visited our yard for about 2 weeks one year and we haven't seen another one since.

crissal-thrasher
Desert bluebells are common in our area. They smell funny when they die, but they are beautiful when alive.

desert-bluebells1

Desert bluebells are common in our area. They smell funny when they die, but they are beautiful when alive.

desert-bluebells2
Another neighbor has a prickly pear cactus with yellow flowers. All the flowers seem to bloom one at a time.

desert-prickly-pear-cactus-flower
My neighbor has a small prickly pear cactus that yields the most perfect flowers in April.

desert-prickly-pear-cactus1

My neighbor has a small prickly pear cactus that yields the most perfect flowers in April.

desert-prickly-pear-cactus2
My neighbor has a small prickly pear cactus that yields the most perfect flowers in April.

desert-prickly-pear-cactus3
Closeup of my neighbor's flowering prickly pear cactus. I think the center resembles a pear of divine hands.

desert-prickly-pear-cactus4

This was an easy shot because this hummingbird visited my backyard bird-or-paradise bush the same time of day. So I just got out my camera and waited for it. Another lucky thing - she visited at around 5:00p when the light was best.

female-hummingbird1
This was an easy shot because this hummingbird visited my backyard bird-or-paradise bush the same time of day. So I just got out my camera and waited for it. Another lucky thing - she visited at around 5:00p when the light was best.

female-hummingbird2
The top of a fiddleneck flower

fiddleneck1

Gambel's quail are prevalent in our neighborhood all year, especially by the golf course. But they are more visible in the spring during mating season. They have their chicks in late spring / early summer, just when you think it's too hot for anything to be hatching. Their unmistakable call sounds like they are laughing. They seem to prefer running to flying.

gambel's-quail
Gila woodpeckers are everywhere in my neighborhood, but they are very skittish.

Gila-Woodpecker
You don't see this everyday.

ladybug-on-lupine

Abundant poppies and lupine in my backyard.

lupine-poppies
A late-blooming lupine next too an early tidytips. Usually the tidytips bloom when the lupine are dying.

lupine-tidytips
Lavender lupine grow like mad in my yard.

lupine1

Lavender lupine grow like mad in my yard.

lupine2
Closeup of one of the hundreds, maybe thousands of lupines that populate my yard every year.

lupine3
Closeup of one of the hundreds, maybe thousands of lupines that populate my yard every year.

lupine4

What's immediately noticeable about this male costas hummingbird is his iridescent head and throat. We have one of these guys that territorially keeps the rest of the hummingbirds away from our feeder.

male-costas-hummingbird
Poppies bloom every year in my backyard, and a few in my front yard.

mexican-gold-poppies
A peanut feeder may attract a northern flicker. Flickers are large members of the woodpecker family.

northern-flicker1

A peanut feeder may attract a northern flicker. Flickers are large members of the woodpecker family.

northern-flicker2
Poppies and filaree bloom in the desert near my house.

poppies-and-filaree
An all too typical scene in my yard in March.

poppies-and-lupine

cactus flower on one of my neighbor's prickly pears.

porcupine-prickly-pear-cactus-flower
I always thought that the few white Mexican poppies I got in my front yard every year were rare. Someone at the Desert Botanical Gardens confirmed that this wasn't a mutation, but simply a normal combination of recessive genes. Each year I get a few more of these plants.

rare-white-mexican-poppy
When they germinate, filaree flowers produce very skinny spikes that always point straight up. The seeds within are even stranger yet - they look like a miniature arrow complete with an arrowhead, but instead of feathers at the backend there is a sharp, tiny corkscrew that grabs hold of just about anything.

red-stemmed-filaree-seed-pods

You can find filaree everywhere in my yard and everywhere there are wildflowers. The stems grow out mostly horizontally, like a melon or pumpkin would.

red-stemmed-filaree
One year we were blessed with a redtail hawk family that took residence in a headless saguaro. It was right next to a major street, and as the babies grew bigger it became a more and more popular attraction for people. The parents never came back after that year, probably because of the human commotion.

redtail-hawk-family
One year we were blessed with a redtail hawk family that took residence in a headless saguaro. It was right next to a major street, and as the babies grew bigger it became a more and more popular attraction for people. The parents never came back after that year, probably because of the human commotion.

redtail-hawk-family2

A redtail hawk lands on a saguaro. This is called being in the right place at the right time.

redtail-hawk-saguaro-landing
Saguaros bloom May-June. It's the Arizona state flower.

saguaro-flower
Scorpionweed is one of many variety of wildflower I have in my backyard. It's not poisonous, just that the end curls up like a scorpion tail.

scorpionweed-scalloped-phacelia1

Scorpionweed is one of many variety of wildflower I have in my backyard. It's not poisonous, just that the end curls up like a scorpion tail.

scorpionweed-scalloped-phacelia2
Sunrise in the Sonoran desert. The Sonoran desert is the wettest desert on earth. The driest? Antarctica.

sonoran-desert-sunrise
A tidytip daisy blooms after the poppies and lupine have gone.

tidytip

The entire body of a typical desert scorpion glows under ultraviolet light. When my neighbor gave me a special ultraviolet LED flashlight I found 9 of these things in my yard in one night (killed 7). The next night I found 3 and killed them all.

ultraviolet-light-scorpion
If you know the name of this flower please email me.

unknown flower
Verdins are common in my neighborhood. They are least afraid (or perhaps more accurately, least distractable) in the spring when the trees are blooming. You can get quite close, although they flit around a lot. Notice the red stripe on his shoulder.

verdin1

Verdins are common in my neighborhood. They are least afraid (or perhaps more accurately, least distractable) in the spring when the trees are blooming. You can get quite close, although they flit around a lot.

verdin2
Verdins are common in my neighborhood. They are least afraid (or perhaps more accurately, least distractable) in the spring when the trees are blooming. You can get quite close, although they flit around a lot. Notice the red stripe on his shoulder. This one seems to have a mask,

verdin3
Verdins are common in my neighborhood. They are least afraid (or perhaps more accurately, least distractable) in the spring when the trees are blooming. You can get quite close, although they flit around a lot.

verdin4

Whee!

verdin5

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