As I believe I've noted before, the altitudinal changes on the Mount Lemmon Highway north of Tucson represent the ecological equivalent of a journey from Mexico to Canada in 27 miles. And here is a good representation of that phenomenon in two corvids.
Aphelocoma wollweberi appears in several of my field guides as the grey-breasted jay, but it is now (or should I say once again) officially the Mexican jay. This one was bouncing all around the Windy Point overlook—and I do mean bouncing; this is a spring-loaded bird—and Jessa was only able to get two photos, but both were keepers.
Cyanocitta stelleri, the Steller's jay, actually occurs in mountainous areas in Mexico and well into Central America, but the northern extent of its range includes Canada and Alaska. This is definitely not a bird you'd find in Tucson proper; this far south, they occur only at high elevations. The lighting may not have been the best when we encountered a pair of Steller's at Summerhaven in late afternoon, but at least the birds weren't overly frenetic.
No comments:
Post a Comment