Unlike other diurnal raptors, harriers use their hearing extensively to find prey and have owl-like facial disks that help concentrate sound. Northern Harriers once nested in the high valleys of northern Arizona but now are only migrants and winter residents in the state. A dead Soaptree Yucca provides an ideal hunting perch for a male American Kestrel . This small, colorful relative of the famous Peregrine Falcon is a common winter resident and an uncommon nester in the deserts and grasslands of southeastern Arizona. In birds of prey, females are larger than males but the sexes are usually alike in color.
Kestrels hunt small prey such as mice, lizards, grasshoppers and small birds.
This young Cooper's Hawk didn't appreciate being disturbed at dinner time. Birds are a favorite prey of these highly maneuverable forest raptors, which usually stay near thick cover and so are hard to see - and to identify correctly. From November to March, the skies of the Sulphur Springs Valley ring with the bugling calls of thousands of Sandhill Cranes . Up to 24,000 of these stately birds roost at playa lakes in the valley and spend much of the day in farm fields and pastures feeding on waste grain and insects. As spring approaches, pairs of cranes can be seen performing spectacular courtship dances.