Curve-billed Thrasher

There is a pair of Curve-billed Thrashers (Toxostoma curvirostre) frequently hanging around the patio feeders here at my sister & brother-in-law's place in Tucson. 
This is the most adaptable, and thus most widespread thrasher. (Last year, there was a much-photographed Curve-billed Thrasher in Saskatoon, SK, Canada.)  (Update:  how to tell I'm getting old...the years are flying by and I'm getting them all mixed up...I am advised the Curve-billed Thrasher in the Saskatoon area, nicknamed Conrad, wasn't there last year or even the year before that!  No, it was in 2006.  Really?).

From Wikipedia:

It is commonly found throughout the deserts and brush-filled areas of the south-western United States, from about the Sonoran Desert of Arizona and across New Mexico to west Texas, as well as most of Mexico, from the Sonoran-Chihuahuan Deserts and south through the Mexican Plateau to regions south of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt in south-central Mexico.

The Curve-billed Thrasher feeds on ground-dwelling insects, as well as seeds, and berries. It often pushes out Cactus Wrens in its area. This thrasher's voice is a sharp, liquid, whistle wit-WEET!, or wit-WEET-wit, as well as a warbling, squeaky, hurried song.

This thrasher often roosts in a tall tree or spiny vegetation, preferring a cactus. The nest is a loosely woven cup made of thorny twigs. The female lays 2 to 4 eggs, which are bluish-green and speckled with brown. The eggs are incubated by both sexes, and hatch after about thirteen days. The young will leave the nest after 14 to 18 days after hatching.

More information at All About Birds

http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Curve-billed_Thrasher/id/ac

Above quotes and more info from Wikipedia at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curve-billed_Thrasher

Gambel's Quail

To my great delight, there is a small covey of Gambel's Quail (Callipepla gambelii) frequenting the feeders at my sister's place here in Tucson.  Similar to the California Quail, the Gambel's is less scaled, lighter coloured overall, with a rich ruddy crown. 

Gene & I came across several groups on our desert hike yesterday.  This male flew to the top of a saguaro (pronounced sa-wha'-ro, by the way) cactus skeleton - giving me an opportunity to snap a couple of pix - while his little family scurried off.

The Gambel's is a New World Quail, Family Odontophoridae, all of which have chunky bodies (although the ones I've seen here have been rather svelte) and crests or head plumes.  

 
The Gambel's Quail is named in honour of William Gambel, a 19th century naturalist from the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia and explorer of the Southwestern United States.  He reported seeing these birds while collecting plants and animals along the Santa Fe Trail in 1841.  (exerpt from Birds of the American Southwest by Lynn Hassler Kaufman)

More information at http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Gambels_Quail/id/ac
and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gambel's_Quail