Pyrrhuloxia

The pyrrhuloxia (Cardinalis sinuatus), or desert cardinal, is a small bird native to the desert Southwest and northern Mexico. Keen on nesting in desert scrub, the birds are fiercely territorial during their mating season, which might explain why this female, pictured in the Santa Catalina Mountains, isn’t retreating despite the presence of a female cardinal. Pyrrhuloxias have short, curved, yellow bills that distinguish them from cardinals, and they use those bills to harvest fruit from shrubs and cactuses.