Patagonia/Sonoita Creek Preserve

It's another beautiful day here in Southern Arizona with temperatures projected to be in the 70's. We decided to head up into the Santa Rita's to visit the Nature Conservancy's Sonoita Creek Preserve located in Patagonia. The views along the way are amazing even this time of year when most of the landscape is dressed in various shades of brown and tan.

After living here in the desert southwest for five years and traveling around to different wildlife areas I have come to the realization that it is all about the availability or lack of water. The abundance of plant and animal life depends either on the presence of water or the ability to adapt to the lack of it. In the riparian areas that I visit the abundance and diversity of plants and animals is truly amazing. In the desert scrub and the more arid areas plants and animals have adapted to needing less water to thrive.

The survival of man here is also dependent on a sometimes hard to find commodity and the evidence of wells operated by wind power are scattered across the landscape. As you can see this Red Tailed Hawk has adapted to it's metal perch which has a commanding view of the surrounding grasslands.

When we arrived there were many birds visiting the feeders at the visitors center including an Anna's Hummingbird, purple finches, goldfinches, and white breasted nuthatches and many sparrows that went unidentified as we were anxious to hit the trails.

One of the most impressive things on our visits to Southern Arizona Riparian areas is the majestic Cottonwoods. Some of these trees are massive in size and I can only guess at their age but they must be very old indeed as evidenced by the specimens that have long since crashed to the ground. In either the upright or prone positions they provide lodging and cover for many creatures.

The creek was flowing gently but steadily along and the water looked quite clear. I have to admit I am curious about the origins of this particular creek as in allot of ways it seems oddly out of place. For those of you who are not familiar with the weather here our rainy seasons are summer and winter. Winter rains can be infrequent and are generally more gentle while summer rains are usually more violent and produce large amounts of water in a short period of time. It is not unusual for it to rain heavily in one part of Tucson while being sunny and hot in another. I have driven down the road with thunder and lightning on my left and bright sunshine on my right.

Fact: Sonoita Creek has about 5 miles of perennial flow the first 2 of which are located on the preserve.The Creek's watershed covers approximately 200 square miles.

The Railroad: The railroad trail supported tracks for a line that ran from Benson,Az. to Guaymas Mexico.
There are several trails that loop around the preserve that I would characterize as easy walks suitable for anyone except wheelchair bound individuals. The Railroad Trail travels along where a bygone train used to pass through Patagonia.

The Creek Trail is equally easy but because of it's proximity to the water we saw quite a bit more wildlife activity here.

We spotted five different Mule Deer during our visit including this buck that was the most skittish of the two groups. The shot below is of one of two adolescents that were traveling along the creek with their mother. The two of them still retained some of the colors you would expect to see in a very young animal.

Read about Mule Deer at www.desertusa.com/feb97/du_muledeer.html

The more time I spend in the wild places the less I seem to worry the creatures that I encounter there. These Mule Deer knew that I was there and walked right out of their cover in the woods and crossed in plain view only a hundred feet from me. At one point when the two adolescents were crossing in front of us they stopped and one of them stamped and grunted at us.

I had a similar experience with a roadrunner just last week when it crossed my path within three feet of me totally ignoring the fact that I was there.

We saw quite a few hawks on this trip including this Red Tailed Hawk hunting along the creek. 22 different species of raptors have been seen in the preserve. Several pairs of Gray Hawks nest at the preserve.

There were Goldfinches,Purple Finches,White-breasted Nuthatches, Yellow-rumped Warblers, Black Phoebes, White-crowned Sparrows, Bridled Titmice and many more who scooted away before positive ID could be made. All in all not too shabby.

We were treated to this sleepy Screech Owl who didn't even acknowledge our presence near his house. For those of you who have never visited Patagonia/Sonoita area it is well worth the trip. On several occasions we have seen Pronghorn Antelope during our trip. Information on the Western Screech Owl can be found at:

www.owlpages.com/owls.php?genus=Megascops&species=kennicottii

Catalina State Park Tucson Arizona

 We arrived at Catalina State Park which is located just north of Tucson at around 10 A.M. on Saturday morning. There are always people there but it is not crowded due to the number and length of the different trails. As you can see it was a beautiful sunny Arizona day which lately have been few and far between. We chose the Nature Trail because it is an easy looping trail that has some great views and we had not hiked this particular section of the park yet.

 The trail turned out to be a really easy walk that would be suitable for young families or the elderly and we enjoyed a slow hike around stopping many times to enjoy the magnificent mountain views.

 

We came across this Roadrunner which is usually very quick to exit when humans are around but this one seemed not to mind our presence although it did keep a pretty good eye on us. When a couple of runners came by it scooted across my feet and disappeared into the desert. Read more about the Greater Roadrunner here: www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Greater_Roadrunner/id

Roadrunners are a classic example of camouflage in nature. If it weren't for it's quick movements as it searches for food you would probably not even notice it.

We headed out the Sutherland Trail which runs along the wash and has a few more birds including Rock Wren, Gila Woodpecker, White Crowned Sparrows, Ruby crowned Kinglets, Aberts Towhee as well as a Stricklands Woodpecker and Chihuahuan Raven.

 Catalina has some truly magnificent examples of Saguaro Cactus and it is a very unique experience to walk through a Saguaro forest.

When most folks think of the desert they think of a lack of water and although water is scarce as you can see it is not non existent. This stream is running due to snow melt run off from the Catalina's which still has snow caps from recent snow storms.

 Parts of the wash are dry indicating that at times there is lots more water running off the Catalina's perhaps during the summer monsoons which can be quite heavy at times.

 Part way up the trail there is a set of stairs that lift you to a second plateau. This is as far as we went on this trip but there is plenty more trail ahead. Perhaps another day.

This is a picture of Nan doing a little bird watching that I included so you can get an idea of the size of the Saguaro. Pretty impressive up close as this one reaches about 25 feet tall.

A relatively new Saguaro which frequently get their start in the shade of other plants which allows them time to get accustomed to the intense sunlight here in Southern Arizona.

 I included this photo because I have noticed that coyotes almost always do their business in the road or on a path or on a rock. I don't think I have every seen actually seen any in the sand. I assume it's because so many plants are thorny and it's just plain safer!

Just a note to express our sadness at the shooting of Congresswomen Gabriel Giffords here in Tucson and all of the other victims as we hiked the park yesterday. This kind of violence against our government and the people of the United States has no place in a free society. Our hearts go out to the families of those who perished and also to those families whose loved ones were senselessly harmed. We wish the injured a speedy recovery and will keep them in our thoughts.

Sandhill Crane Watch Whitewater Draw 1/1/11

We decided to head down Rt. 191 through Elfrida and on to Whitewater Draw Conservation Area and as it turned out we were glad we did. As we traveled through Elfrida I noticed a large black cloud on the horizon which seemed to be undulating. Upon further inspection it was clear we had hit the jackpot. Thousands of Sandhill Cranes were on the move.

Everywhere we looked there were Sandhills flying in all different directions. As it turned out most of the cranes were feeding in a field along 191 or headed back to Whitewater Draw where they roost when not in the fields feeding on the local agricultural abundance that lures them here each year.

This is my second trip in January to see the Sandhills. The first was last year to the Willcox Arizona playa. We are seeing amazing numbers of cranes compared to last year's trip.

The above shot shows the cranes flying in different directions at different altitudes.

The skies were awash with thousands of Sandhills in what has to be the highlight of my visits to see them here in southern Arizona.

Temperatures were in the upper 20's ranging into the 30's for most of the day and there was a smattering of snow on the ground and the peaks in the distance were snow capped. It was really a nice day with a light breeze near the water that kept us bundled up all day.

When we arrived at the Draw the show was as spectacular as any I have seen there. The sky was full of returning cranes and surprisingly hundreds of Snow Geese. It made for a very colorful display with the constant calling of the cranes both on the ground and in the air. We were also treated to the calling of the Snow Geese in the midst of all of the crane talk.

Snow Geese in flight.

There was considerably more water in the ponds this trip than there has been on other visits this year.

I estimate the number of Sandhills at more than 30,000 on this trip but there was really no accurate way to count. It could have been even more. All through the day it was evident how social these birds are and how few disputes there are for the number of individuals that gather either to roost or feed in the fields.

The cranes expanded the amount of land that they were using and gradually inched closer to our location as the day when on. It was clear they were becoming accustomed to people with cameras and binoculars.

There were many Northern Shovelers present and they were very entertaining scooting along the ice upon landing and parading in open water.




As the day wore on the cranes settled down and the skies became empty of all but a few stragglers that flew in occasionally from parts unknown.

The Sandhill cranes were happy to leisurely stroll up and down looking for small morsels.


One of the few flare ups that we witnessed took place in a group that had broken off from the main flock. It was unclear what caused the disagreement but like all Sandhill arguments it didn't last long and they went back to relaxing immediately after.