Photo by Greg Clark
The Ash-throated Flycatcher is found throughout the Southwestern United States and in a wide variety of habitats. In the desert regions of Arizona this bird will typically nest in a Saguaro Cactus cavity, but will use other cavities if all the Saguaro are taken, or if there are no Saguaro in the area. This bird was observed using an earth moving machine exhaust pipe as a cavity in 1998 near the Gila River. This photograph, taken near Booger Canyon in late May 1998, shows a nest in a small dead tree cavity. Normally inaccessible for conventional photography, this nest was open from above so the view shown is directly overhead. All lighting is by ring light strobe. The bottom of the nest appears to be lined with soft plant fibers. This bird is a migrant, it arrives in spring to breed and leaves in late summer for Mexico where it spends the winter. (Some birds also winter in Arizona). This flycatcher feeds by flying up from a perch to catch insects in the air.
This photograph was taken in 1997 in south-central Arizona
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This photo is from the Kaibab Plateau in Northern Arizona. The adult bird is carrying food, possibly a grasshopper, to the nest in a Juniper tree. This is a typical nest site in the type of habitat referred to as Pinion-Juniper.
Photo by Greg Clark, July 15, 2001