On Friday January 17th I left my motel in Casa Grande and was birding on the Santa Cruz Flats not long after 8am. I had three target birds in mind, birds that I had seen when we drove the flats on December 7th. A search for Mountain Plovers at the turf farm was unsuccessful today (only Horned Larks and American Pipits) and Burrowing Owls and Crested Caracara were nowhere to be found.
However the 2 hours on the flats were pretty good. On December 7th I had looked for Sagebrush Sparrow at Sunland Gin and Harmon but failed; this time I found one very quickly. I found a flooded field with a good sized group of Greater Yellowlegs and Long-billed Curlew and although raptors were not so abundant as last time, I had a Merlin perched close enough for a picture through the windscreen.
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| Merlin |
My next stop was a visit to Tohono Chul Park off Ina Road in Tucson. A posting had mentioned a Fox Sparrow at the Geology Wall and as this was a 'new' park for me it seemed worth a shot. I did not realize that this was not really a park, but a botanical garden with an entrance fee. But I paid up and spent an hour in the grounds enjoying the plants and adding a number of common desert birds to my year list. Costa's Hummingbirds probably the best as they came very close.
My next stop was Sweetwater and my targets a bunch of common ducks missing form the Flagstaff area. This visit started in spectacular style with a friendly Sora and a cooperative Lincoln's Sparrow at the bridge!
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| Sora |
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| Lincoln's Sparrow |
The rest of the visit was much as expected with Northern Pintail, Gadwall, Green-winged Teal, Cinnamon Teal and Eared Grebe on the ponds. The biggest surprise was a Wilson's Warbler.
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| Shoveler |
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| Northern Pintail |
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| Green-winged Teal |
Having dipped on the Burrowing Owl, I stopped by the auto glass place near Tucson Airport and found one hiding in its 'burrow'!
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