Yesterday I headed out to Madera Canyon to find the Whiskered Screech Owl, Berylline Hummingbird, Lucifer Hummingbird, and Calliope Hummingbird all reported in the past couple of days. Four hours later without finding any of them I decided to head over to Empire Gulch at Las Cienegas to look for the Yellow Billed Cuckoos that have been reported there. Again no luck.
So, somewhat disappointed (it's hard to be too disappointed when you are out in nature), I drove the back road down to Highway 82 which would take me to Sonoita. I took a few spurs looking for Pronghorn or, Black Tailed Prairie Dogs. To my joy, luck turned and I found a Black Tailed Prairie Dog. These little guys that roamed Arizona (and north to Saskatchewan) had all but disappeared in Arizona by the year 2000. However, with the help of the US Fish and Wildlife, they had been reintroduced to Arizona in general and Las Cienegas in particular. So, I was quite happy finding one. Here are a couple photos:
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| Black Tailed Prairie Dog (note the tip of the tail is black) |
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| Black Tailed Prairie Dog calling to his friends |
So, I was feeling pretty good for the day. But, as LUCK would have it, my day got even better. Five minutes later I checked out the little Cottonwood Pond which is tucked off behind a pea green pond. There I found a lone Black Bellied Whistling Duck. This is a rare bird to the US. It only finds its way into the southernmost tips of Arizona, Texas, and Louisiana. As the crow flies (well, I guess as the duck flies too) it was only about 30 miles from the US/Mexican border. This was a lucky find. However, even luckier was that he was posing on top of a rock right in front of the pond and let me get within 10 feet. The result was several photos any of which could be "5" Stars. I had to pick just one however. Here it is:
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| Black Bellied Whistling Duck |
This is fantastic!
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