Last month we looked at vision in various local species of wildlife. Given our own superb primate optics—capable of interpreting intricate colors—April is a perfect time to venture out into our local wilds seeking a plethora of natural tints. After a parched winter we all could use a few bright spots in our lives.
What better color to start with than red—a decidedly rare one during our colder months. True, our northern cardinals have brightened our darkest days, but this month they are joined by a number of other species, each fairly aflame. Watch for the return of both summer and hepatic tanagers from their tropical winter haunts. The male of the former species is a bright cherry red, while the latter lives up to its name with a more blood red (think liver) color. Each species has evolved to visually attract their drabber mates, risking increased predation in the process.
Meanwhile, keep track of our local ocotillos, as April is often their prime flowering month near Patagonia. This odd semi-succulent—it is not a cactus—generates bright red, tubular blossoms at the end of many of its stem tips. Their color serves to attract migrating and resident birds alike, particularly hummingbirds. A special treat is when birds, sporting reds or off-reds themselves, visit the flowers. I have witnessed northern cardinals, pyrrhuloxias, black-headed grosbeaks, Lucy’s warblers and verdins all investigating the corollas of ocotillos in their search for nectar, pollen, and insects.
How about the blues? That’s actually the apt name of a family of butterflies which contains a good number of Sky Island species. Perhaps the most ubiquitous is the marine blue. This species often more than compensates for its tiny size by its sheer numerical abundance and vivid color, reminiscent of ocean blues. As mesquite trees—one of the marine blue’s larval food sources—leaf out, watch for these little stunners. When one lands, you might notice that the posterior edge of the under-wing has a fake “eyespot,” intended to lure potentially fatal bird bites to the somewhat disposable hindwing and away from the head.
Also look for both Mexican jays and Woodhouse’s scrub jays in oak-rich habitats, as they enter their breeding season and become more boisterous. As with many blue-feathered birds, their color is owing to refraction of light through specialized feathers rather than true pigments.
For April whites, head to the Sonoran Desert, where mature giant saguaros offer large blossoms from the end of their stems. Casting their lot in spring, they time their flowers to coincide with bird migration and (especially) the return of nectar-feeding bats, both of which can pollinate the species.
Yellows enter in the picture via a seemingly improbable route this month, as drought-deciduous oaks begin to drop their leaves. In dry conditions, as we are now experiencing, species such as Emory and Arizona oaks are compelled to lose foliage in an effort to preserve their water balance. The most expedient way to do this is to drop leaves. In the process, they first “pull back” their chlorophyll, which normally lends the foliage its green color. This then exposes the underlying photosynthetic pigments, turning the leaves yellow—autumn in spring!
Orange gets in on the act in both the animal and plant kingdoms. Desert honeysuckles open their tubular orange flowers that, like ocotillo, have evolved to lure hummingbirds. It’s a one-two punch that results in well-fed birds and pollinated plants. Keep a keen eye peeled at ground level or in the air for various hymenopterans, some of which bear orange as a warning coloration. Certain velvet ants—not actually ants, but instead wingless female wasps—possess this pattern, with orange serving as a sort of neon sign saying back off!
Failure to heed the signal can result in an extremely painful sting. I once had a velvet ant secretly climb up under my shirt. My yelp could be heard across several Sky Islands counties, while the resulting welt supplied me with a third nipple for several days.
We end with black—often not considered a flashy color. Like so many other things in life, however, the devil is in the details. Watch a common raven wheeling in the sky. Just as the sun hits it at a certain angle you may observe it magically turning white, as the light mirrors off of its reflective dorsal plumage. Ravens, along with black-plumaged great-tailed grackles, bronzed cowbirds, phainopeplas, and others have black plumage that often display iridescence. Purple, bronze, and green colors may flash at you as the light dances off of their feathers, revealing that, unlike the song, black is not just black…though you still might want your baby back.
Vincent Pinto and his wife Claudia run RAVENS-WAY WILD JOURNEYS, their Nature Adventure & Conservation organization devoted to protecting and promoting the unique biodiversity of the Sky Islands region. RWWJ offers a wide variety of private, custom-made courses, birding & biodiversity tours. Visit: ravensnatureschool.org