Tucson is rightly proud of its wastewater treatment project which claims to make use of a natural process of treating human ordures. We have traveled to a lot of different cities to look at birds. Surrounded by arid desert full of cactus and empty dry river beds, the Sweetwater Wetlands Park is truly an oasis in the desert.
The treatment plant and its tailing ponds consist of more than 125 acres of really attractive wetlands. We walked several of the trails. The variety of birds we saw there was amazing. In the undergrowth along the path, we spotted the yellow and olive colored Olive Warbler (Peucedramus Taeniatus).
We watched a female Pyrrhuloxia (Cardinalis Sinuatus) taking a bath in the heat; she stooped in the water and flapped her wings, giving herself a splashy shower. This bird is also known as the Western Cardinal.
There was a Black-Chinned Sparrow (Spizella Atrogularis) in the dark undergrowth near the path in the back of the park.
We could not help but hear a beautiful female Green Kingfisher (Chloroceryle Americana) who chattered loudly as she swooped from tree to tree above the largest of the tailing ponds.
Further along the path, Berry pointed up in a tree. I looked up. There were two woodpeckers, making goo-goo eyes at each other. We witnessed today the mating dance of the Red-Naped Sapsucker (Sphyrapicus Nuchalis). Very impressive.
One of the most colorful birds we spotted at Sweetwater Wetlands Park was the bright red Vermilion Flycatcher (Pyrocephalus Rubinus). Most flycatchers we have seen were gray and light gray and a darker shade of gray. The male Vermilion Flycatcher we saw today was a striking exception. He was so brightly red that it was impossible to miss him, as he flew across a small cove of water and into a nearby tree.
Arizona in late summer is a hot, dry place. Yesterday, Tucson tied its all time high temperature. After walking the birding trails in the Park all morning, we decided to leave and find a cool place, put our feet up, and have something wet to drink. We drove to a local coffee shop (today is National Coffee Day, so we celebrated…) and had a cup of coffee. While there, we also worked a crossword puzzle.
While at the coffee shop, we decided suddenly to get some Fried Chicken and drive to Catalina State Park to eat a picnic lunch. This is one of our favorite things to do. The authorities of the Catalina State Park think there is evidence that this area has been continuously occupied since about 5000 BCE by the Hohokam people. The Romero Ruin located in the park still contains pueblos built of rock and adobe, as well as a cool Meso-American ballcourt. All very cool.
One of the mammals we saw running lose today was a tremendously cute Round Tailed Ground Squirrel (Xerospermophilus Tereticaudus). Though this squirrel is considered a pest in local residential dwellings, the one we saw was sitting underneath a tree, minding his own business, staying out of the sun. Round Tailed Ground Squirrels look like tiny Prairie Dogs. Their fur is a uniform sandy color, which matches the sandy ground they burrow in. They are supremely adapted to desert life. They stay active even on the hottest of days. We saw this one scurrying around at high noon.
Berry and I stood in the heat for quite a while, debating the finer points of ornithological investigation and came to the agreement that what we were loking at was a Townsend’s Warbler (Setophaga Townsendi) flitting in a bush. Perched in the upper branches of a leafless tree, there was a large Peregrine Falcon (Falco Peregrinus). We moved the car to get a better view of it. One of the cutest birds all day was the Says Phoebe (Sayornis Saya) with its peach colored rump. We spotted it at a crossroad of mountain paths. We kept walking around a long loop of the trail and spotted the same Says Phoebe again when we passed it a second time.
So far, during our trip to Arizona, we have noted that all the rivers here are just dry, dusty, river beds. We were amused that this one, the Sutherland Wash, actually had some water in it. We both got our feet wet, but just barely. We took the picture below.
After a mile hike through the uplands of the park, we came back to our hotel room and had a well deserved siesta. We ate large juicy hamburgers at a five star burger joint in Tucson called the Monkey Burger. Their motto is “No monkeys were harmed in the making of our burgers”. I had something called the “Madness”. Very nice.
Robert and Berry
photos courtesy of wikipedia and rfowler
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