• Bruce Glick: Gone Birding

The northern wind brings in more birds this month

• Bruce Glick: Gone Birding
• February 9, 2022
• 1267

It’s hard to believe we soon will be halfway through our three months in Southern Arizona. While the Midwest was getting snow, we had four nights in a row with low temperatures in the mid to high 20s. During the day the sun usually comes out, and it warms up. Some days there is a lot of wind while other days are calm.

On the coldest days, the wind was from the north, and we were surprised to find there were many more birds around than during January. There were large flocks of white-crowned sparrows, along with many other sparrows. At some places there were 100s of sparrows. Were these birds arriving from further north, or had they been wintering further south and now are starting north?

My favorite desert birding location is still Canoa Ranch Conservation Park. Because it is only a 15-minute drive, I try to get there as often as possible. This past week I finally got a good look at a clay-colored sparrow, saw the lone white-throated sparrow again, and enjoyed seeing flocks of lark sparrows and Lawrence’s goldfinches. One morning there was a great egret at the lake, as well as my first belted kingfisher of the year. Better yet, there were four hooded mergansers among the other ducks and coots. This was the first time I’ve seen hooded mergansers in Arizona.

Canoa Ranch is open every day for hiking and birding and also offers tours of the old ranch buildings. There are plans to add a campground in the future. A new project is to restore 30 acres of grown-over weedy fields. An irrigation system has already been installed, and many native shrubs and bushes have been planted. In a few years, the 30 acres will look entirely different. While walking through the area recently, I saw my first loggerhead shrike of the winter. A northern harrier is often seen, and an osprey visits the lake some days. Red-tailed hawks are almost as common here as in Ohio and Indiana.

We also try to visit Madera Canyon every week, enjoying the hiking and the birds. A highlight recently was seeing two pairs of hepatic tanagers at the same time at the Madera Cabins feeders.

This coming week we plan to drive to Sweetwater Wetlands, a park in Tucson that always has some interesting birds. Recently, there has been a Harris’ hawk hanging around the park, as well as an American bittern. Tucson always has some rare birds somewhere in the city, although our experience has been they are often hard to find. I also want to spend another day at Patagonia Lake State Park. The birding trail there is usually one of the best locations in Southern Arizona. Recently, it was closed for several weeks, but now the trail is open again. The lake often hosts some unusual birds during the winter.

The rare bird alert for Southern Arizona currently has over 30 rare birds reported. About half of them are eastern birds. Arizona birders chase the eastern strays just like we chase western strays in Ohio and Indiana. For example, American goldfinches are sometimes found here but are quite unusual, so birders check the commonly occurring lesser goldfinches for a possible stray from the east. Check the e-Bird listings for Southern Arizona if you want to see what birds are being seen in this part of the country.

Good birding!

Email Bruce Glick at bglick2@gmail.com.