Las Cienegas National Conservation Area - Part VI

And, now photos from the grasslands of Las Cienegas:

Killdeer

Red Tailed Hawk

Turkey Vulture

Western Meadowlark

Red Tailed Hawk feeding Chick along Highway 83 from Las Cienegas

Las Cienegas National Conservation Area

One of my favorite places in Southern Arizona is Las Cienegas -- the home of Empire Ranch -- and about 50 western movies of old.

It's a great place for sparrows, kingbirds, and meadowlarks. They're everywhere. There is the Cottonwood Pond which can attract some rarities (Black Bellied Whistling Duck and Rosette Spoonbill to name a couple).  It also has a wonderful riparian wetland called Empire Gulch. And it's not just birds. Over the years I've seen Pronghorn, Deer, Javelina, Coyote, Rattlesnakes, Jackrabbits, and Black Tailed Prairie Dogs. 

Here are some photos from my trip earlier this week:

Belted Kingfisher

Black Tailed Prairie Dog

Pronghorn

Raven

Red Tailed Hawk

Vermillion Flycatcher

More Birds from Mount Lemmon

In addition to the warblers in the last post, here are some non-warbler birds taken on Mount Lemmon this past week:

American Robin

Hermit Thrush

Yellow Eyed Junco

House Wren

Red Tailed Hawk

Spotted Towhee

Western Bluebird

White Breasted Nuthatch

Wild Turkey

More from El Rio Open Space - II

Here some of the other birds at El Rio Open Space:

Cassin's Kingbird

Great Blue Heron

Lucy's Warbler

Juvenile Red Tailed Hawk

Birding Coachline Gravel Pit aka El Rio Open Space

Also called the El Rio Preserve is a 100 acre wetland formed by a break in the Santa Cruz River a few years ago. Funding has been provided to improve trails, parking, and the wetland itself. Since the original flooding, over 200 species have been reported there. 

At present the size of the lake has been significantly reduced. Therefore the fish have been limited to a much smaller area which has attracted many Egrets. I was there yesterday and found 19 Great Egrets all within sight at the same time. 

Here are some of yesterday's photos:

green winged teal

great egret

blue canterbury

mexican poppy

phainopepla

greater roadrunner

yellow rumped warbler

house finch

red tailed hawk

northern rough winged swallow

Tubac Hawk Watch

Each March hundreds of Raptors migrate into Southern Arizona from Mexico along the Santa Cruz River. And hundreds of birders gather at Ron Morriss Park in Tubac to watch and count. Of particular interest are three rare hawks to the United States:  Common Black Hawk, Zone-Tailed Hawk, and Gray Hawk. The "official" count is important to understand whether the population of each species is stable or not.

Other raptors are seen as well: Cooper's Hawk, Red Tailed Hawk, Crested Caracara, and Turkey Vulture, (as well as lots of Ravens).

Most of the activity occurs between 8:00 am and 11:00 am. Unfortunately (for me) that is our busiest time of day and busiest time of year at the Bed and Breakfast and so I have been unable to get there in past years. But, yesterday Christine gave me the morning off and I headed down to Tubac.

Getting an early start, I was the second to arrive. At 8:35 the first Common Black Hawk arrived and gave me my best photo of the day. Ten minutes later two Zone Tailed Hawks put on a nice show. 

By 10:00 am there were  a hundred or so people but very little raptor activity. There was a group of 15 or so Ravens, and another group of 15 or so Turkey Vultures.

There were a couple groups of raptors far away on the east side of the Santa Cruz River but I couldn't really tell what they were.

A Cooper's Hawk circled nicely above us and a Red Tailed Hawk joined in with the Turkey Vultures, but by most accounts it was a slower day than the past couple of days. The "official" count from the day before was 59 Common Black Hawks. I haven't seen the official count for yesterday, but I only could identify 7 Black Hawks, 6 Zone Tails, and no Grays up until 11:00 when I headed off. 

Here are a few of my photos:

Common Black Hawk

Cooper's Hawk

Red Tailed Hawk, Turkey Vulture, Raven

Zone Tailed Hawk

Other photos from Las Cienegas

Here are a few other photos from Las Cienegas;

Loggerhead Shrike

Red Tailed Hawk

Rufous Winged Sparrow

Vesper Sparrow

Western Meadowlark

Las Cienegas

After the hike in Sawmill Canyon we drove back through Las Cienegas near Sonoita. Lots of standing water from the monsoons, so not a big surprise to see a Killdeer, but nonetheless a nice photo. Also lots of raptors including this Red Tailed Hawk. And, of course we had to stop to show them the Black Tailed Prairie Dog Town. Here are some photos:

Killdeer

Red Tailed Hawk

Black Tailed Prairie Dog

Mount Lemmon

Migration is beginning to hit the Catalina Mountains.  It wasn't the great day that I had hoped for, but  just walking/hiking in the Catalinas is rewarding spiritually.

I did find five warblers: Townsend's, Hermit, Red Faced, Olive, and  Yellow-rumped. I couldn't get good photos of the Hermit or Olive, but did get marginal photos of the others -- and a few other birds too (though nothing rare):

townsend's warbler

red faced warbler

yellow-rumped warbler

spotted towhee

house wren

red tailed hawk