Creating a Fauna of the McDowell Sonoran Preserve

A fauna is a comprehensive list of the animals in a particular area.  This list may also contain information about the animals and can be a significant resource.  MSC had the goal of becoming a hub for information about everything relating to the Preserve.  One part of this undertaking is to create a fauna of the Preserve. 

In order to develop this resource in a timely manner, we need many people to participate.  Without your help, this project could take years to complete.  If each of us took 1 or 2 hours to create one profile, we could finish this in a much shorter time. I hope you will help us meet this challenge! 

The following process has been established to facilitate multiple participants working at the same time and uniformity of information.

Animal Profile Project Action Plan

  1. Create 3 lists representing the 3 stages of the process and insert them below.  The 3 stages are "Need Profiles", "Need Review", and "Completed".  (done)

  2. Create a form for participants to use to submit animal profiles and link it below. (done)

  3. Participants select an animal from the list to research and let Ruthie Carll, the project coordinator, know that the animal's profile is in progress.  Animals that are currently being researched will be indicated in blue on the list below.

  4. Research the selected animal, write the initial profile and submit it to Ruthie.

  5. The initial profile will be posted in the "Needs Review" section.  Someone other than the author selects a profile by clicking on the animal, reviews the information, and sends their edits or a 'good to go' message to Ruthie.

  6. The edited profile is posted on the Education /  Resources / Animals.  Yea!

Download Profile Form in Word    There is an example profile titled Tarantula Hawk in the Need Review list.

Need Profiles

(Profiles for all animals in blue are currently being created)

Mammals

Cottontail
Mountain lion
Gray fox
Ringtail badger
Bobcat

Striped skunk
Spotted skunk
Javelina
Blacktail jackrabbit

Mule deer

Coues white-tailed deer

Western pipistrelle bat
Cave myotis bat
Yuma myotis bat
Fringed myotis bat
Pallid bat
Mexican free-tailed bat
Townsend's big eared bat
California leaf-nosed bat

Rock squirrel
Harris' antelope ground squirrel
Round-tailed Ground Squirrel

Pocket gopher

Cactus mouse
Deer mouse
Grasshopper mouse
Merriam's kangaroo rat
Ord's kangaroo rat
Arizona pocket mouse

Bailey's pocket mouse
White-throated woodrat
Hispid cotton rat harvest mouse
House mouse

Reptiles

Desert tortoise
Western diamondback
Mohave rattlesnake
Black-tail rattlesnake
Speckled rattlesnake
Coral snake
Western lyre snake
Spotted night snake
Western black-headed snake

Sonoran whipsnake
Red racer leaf-nosed snake

 Gopher snake
Ground snake
Patch-nosed snake
Common kingsnake
Western blind snake
Arizona glossy snake
Clarks spiny lizard
Greater earless lizard
Regal Horned Lizard
Arizona night lizard
Gila spotted whip tail lizard		 Western whiptail lizard
Gila monster
Chuckwalla
Banded gecko
Collared Lizard
Fence lizard
Leopard lizard
Desert Iguana
Zebra tailed lizard
Side blotched lizard
Desert Spiny Lizard

Birds
Turkey vulture
Red-tailed hawk
American kestrel
Mourning dove
white-winged dove
Greater Roadrunner
Western screech owl
Common poorwill
Gila woodpecker
Ladder-backed woodpecker
Verdin
Bewick's wren
Rock wren
Loggerhead shrike
Bendire's thrasher		 Curve-billed thrasher
Phainopepla
Bell's vireo
Lucy's warbler
Abert's towhee
Ground dove
Annas hummingbird
Broadbilled hummingbird
Great-tailed grackle
Harris' hawk
Gambel's quail
Great-homed owl
Elf owl
Burrowing owl
Lesser nighthawk


Northern flicker
Ash-throated flycatcher
Weid' s flycatcher
Cactus wren
Black-tailed gnatcatcher
Northern mockingbird
European starling
Cowbird
Black-throated gray warbler
Black-throated sparrow

Inca dove
House finch
English sparrow
Barn owl

Amphibians
Couch's Spadefoot Toad
Great plains toad		 Red spotted toad
Woodhouses toad		 Sonoran toad
Canyon tree frog

Insects

Solitary Bee

Velvet Ant

Carpenter Bee

   

Fish
Are there any fish in the Preserve?    

Need Review


 

Completed

Mammals

Coyote

Reptiles

Birds

Amphibians

Insects

Tarantula Hawk

    

Fish