February in Madera Canyon

After the recent cold spell and snow fall, Madera creek is rushing with chilly snow melt from Mnt Wrightston and Mnt Hopkins. Under these conditions bird watching is still much more rewarding than bug hunting.

A flash of red greets me at the feeders of Madera canyon Lodge: a Hepatic Tananger. This male sports a lively orange-red front while his flanks, back and wings are olive green-gray. Nice! I've mostly seen Summer Tanangers in Arizona, and this time I even get a good look at the yellow-green female at the Kabo B&B further up the road.

Chipping Sparrow

Pine Siskin

I miss theYellow-eyed Juncos. Instead there are Chipping Sparrows and Pine Siskins on the ground.

 Swarms of Lesser Goldfinches visit the feeders. Some of them have nearly black backs. None of those wants to pose for  photo, though.

The clownish, very social Acorn Woodpeckers are always all over the feeders. Their breeding cavities and thousands of acorn smithies in the wooden telephone poles show that the gang stays around year round. 

My favorite Woopecker

Acorn smithy holes

 The Arizona Woodpecker, recognizable by his plain brown back, is a southeast Arizona specialty. Usually I catch glimpses of this bird in summer on Duquesne Rd close to the Mexican border or south of Pena Blanca Lake. It was a nice surprise to find on at the suet block at the lodge where it seemed undisturbed by my struggle with my new little view finder less camera.

The characteristic brown back

Places where birders come together function as information exchanges. A field guide is hardly needed if one has keen ears and doesn't hesitate to ask questions. So in exchange for my introduction of the woodpecker, I get the tip that 'the' Trogon has taken residence at the Kabo B&B.

I find the promised berry-covered  bush that had attracted the sole wintering Trogon across the street from the B&B, too far from the road to see whether it is an introduced Pyracantha or a native Madrone. The birds don't seem to care. The Trogon soon swoops down from one of the Sycamores to join a Robin, some Siskins and a pair of Dark-eyed Juncos. 

Too bad that he is too intent on those berries to pose for a better photo! But at least all the field marks are clearly visible.

 Lois Manowitz, a great bird photographer from Tucson, graciously allowed me to use one of her Trogon photos here. It was taken during the breeding season at Madera Canyon. I am not sure whether male Trogons help incubating the eggs, but those disheveled feathers seem to indicate that he might have brood patches. 

'Madera Canyon Birds' watercolor of my first Trogon encounter in 1994

Wintering Ducks and Shorebirds at the Santa Cruz River in Marana

For several days and nights it has been colder than ever here in Tucson. Not many beetles and bugs to watch under those conditions. But along the steadily flowing Santa Cruz River that is fed by the Pima County Water Reclamation Plant, there are more birds than in other years.

 The churning water of the overflow directly under the bridge is the favorite spot for most ducks, a Green Heron, some Pied-billed Grebes and a few American Coots.

 Three species of Teal dabble in the churning water or rise up in tight flocks flashing their brightly colored wing patches that gave them their common species names.

Blue-winged Teal Pair

Male Blue-winged Teal

Cinnamon Teal

Most common is the small Green-Winged Teal

Grebes and Gadwalls

 Mallards and a single male Wood Duck are usually found further down river.

 Wood Ducks are rare in Arizona.

A Flock of Least Sandpipers occupies the sandbank                                                                                    

                                                                     

Spotted Sandpipers with rhythmically dipping tails search for food along the banks. I was thrilled to watch a Wilson's Snipe around the pillars of the bridge but I couldn't get a photo.A Water Pipit was more obliging 

Noisy Killdeer feed at muddy parts of the river bank, but they can also be found in the dry, stony sand flats along the road where they will hide their eggs. Today I saw a Coyote and a Northern Harrier patrol the water's edge for prey, last week it was a Prairie Falcon  - It may be safer to keep vulnerable offspring a little bit away from the attractive riparian area.

Last year the river changed its bed and covered most of the open mudflats that the  Black-necked Stilts liked. This year I've seen them at Sweetwater but not at the Ina Bridge where these photos were taken in 2007. 

I really miss those elegant beauties.

At dusk, the Green Heron finally moves out of his hidden spot by the river bank

Thousands of Wintering Cranes and Geese at Whitewater Draw , Cochise County

Sandhill Cranes at Whitewater Draw, Cochise County

Two kinds of snow birds flock to Arizona every winter and I like them both. Mostly retired sun seeking human winter visitors bring their appreciation for Arizona's natural beauty (and my paintings thereof). Our seasonal outdoor art markets would not be possible without them. Their  midwestern calm might also effect the usual cowboy attitude around here somewhat...They certainly slow down the traffic on the roads.
But - the snow birds that I really love arrive here on their wings. 

Formations of Sandhill Cranes and Snow Geese begin to appear in October. The geese have left the arctic tundra of their breeding grounds in Alaska and followed the western migration routes, that distribute the migratory flocks to winter quarters in New Mexico, Arizona and California. Some continue to northern Mexico. Eastern populations follow the eastern migration paths to Texas, the golf states and Florida.The sandhill Cranes wintering in Arizona represent the Rocky Mountain and the Mid-Continent populations. They made the journey in high altitude flights with few interruptions.

Roosting area at noon

In Arizona, Cranes and Geese settle mainly in Sulphur Springs Valley of Cochise County, especially in the Playa around Willcox and at Whitewater Draw north-east of Tombstone. There they find flat, shallow-water roosting areas close to harvested grain fields for feeding. While the habitats of the Sulphur Springs Valley are less divers and the numbers of birds are smaller than in Bosque del'Apache in neighboring New Mexico, Whitewater Draw is still a great place to watch ten thousands of birds up close. The birds spend the night at the roosting area, fligh off at sunrise to spend several hours feeding in the fields and return before noon to the roosting places and rest there.

Much more sporadically than in the morning, groups of birds fly off for some afternoon feeding.

During this coming and going it is obvious that family groups are staying together and the 1st year juveniles are still with their parents.

Sandhill family, two youngsters on the left.

There are always predators hanging around great accumulations of birds. At Bosque de l'Apache I watched coyotes stalking the geese, jumping meters off the ground to grab the birds that  were slowly gaining height,  too slowly it turned out. Over-flighing eagles send everybody into the air - and the bird watchers off their chairs. I particularly love the light flashing off thousands of geese turning in unison.

 Last Sunday, a bobcat had been seen in the morning, but by noon all birds were resting rather quietly. Only a lonely female Northern Harrier tried to scare some ducks out of the reeds, a Cooper's Hawk was watching from a tree and a Redtail rode the thermic in the distance.

Northern Harrier

Young Cooper's Hawk

Red Tail Hawk

At Withewater Draw the Arizona Game and Fish  Department maintains viewing platforms and conducts regular counts of the wintering birds.The results are posted at the entrance to the area.

 All 30,000 cranes seemed to be in residence last Sunday afternoon, while there were much fewer geese than in other years.
Of this day at Whitewater Draw I'll always remember the sounds: the constant croo-crooh calls of the cranes, from the ground, from the air announcing new arrivals, the deep whomp, whomp of their powerful wings, and the fast crescendo of wing beats when groups of ducks took to the air.

Happy New Year with Snow for the Snow Dogs

Florida Canyon, Santa Rita Mountains

A rare treat for the pack

Agaves: Stars of the Desert 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sotols catching the winter sun

Delicate filigree and traces of summer  preserved

Laika

Cody

Laika and Tana our snow dogs

Frodo and Bilbo, still  'the pups' at three and four years old

Another star-burst

Winter chioroscuro

Gold sparklers

Abstraction

 

Just 85% of the pack, but someone had to shoot the photo

Trying to coax everybody back into the truck -

but the pups have different ideas