What Else Is At Whitewater Draw?

This gorgeous White-crowned Sparrow was one of dozens of species we saw at Whitewater Draw - in addition to the 10,000 Sandhill Cranes

Tom caught a few good shots of this Savannah Sparrow.

I was extremely proud of myself for sighting a Common Yellowthroat among the weeds.  It wouldn't be a big deal to most birders, but I am absolutely no good at warblers!

There were Northern Shovelers galore.

A couple of Ring-necked ducks.

A few scattered Common Mergansers.

Tons of American Coots were in the marsh.  I like this image because the bird looks like he is smiling.

These are just a few of the dozens of species that can be seen at Whitewater Draw in Southern Arizona.  It is a spectacular birding location with spectacular scenery to boot!

Sweet Sweetwater Waterfowl

Sweetwater Wetlands is a marvelous birding hotspot that is right in the city of Tucson itself.  In addition to hundreds of Northern Shovelers, we saw Pintails, Mallards, Wigeons, and plenty of other waterfowl.  I thought that Tom got a great shot of the handsome Green-winged Teal shown above.

Of course, there were plenty of American Coots in residence.  This is a rather funny shot of a coot that just crash landed in the water.

There were also a few Common Moorhen mixed in with the coots.  I first saw a Common Moorhen in California a few months back, but since I never added it to my lifelist, seeing this one sort of counts as adding a lifelister!

The diminutive Ruddy Duck will always be one of my personal favorites.

We also saw Gadwalls and we even saw (but I failed to photograph) a Cinnamon Teal.

We were especially lucky to see a rare winter visitor to Sweetwater: a juvenile Snow Goose!  We were on the lookout for the Snow Goose because my son told me it had been seen in the area, but I doubt I would have located him had I not seen him coming in for a landing.  He settled into one of the rear ponds, so we couldn't get close enough for a very good shot.  I got a good enough look to positively ID the little guy, but he wasn't in the mood to pose for pictures!

East Coast AND West Coast Birds

Not every bird I saw out west was exotic.  Quite a few were old familiar friends, actually.  This American Coot is often seen on the East Coast.

Double-crested cormorants are abundant even in Framingham, Massachusetts.  They've practically taken over the Heron Rookery in the Foss Reservoir!

Snowy Egrets are almost always seen during the summer months in New England.

My first Ruddy Duck was diving in the Foss Reservoir, too!

Ruddy Ducks still have a special place in my heart!

The three female Common Mergansers we saw enjoying the salmon spawn at Lake Tahoe look exactly like the Common Mergansers on the Sudbury River.  It's actually pretty cool to see where some of our birds end up when they leave us!

Arizona Birds

This is my first time on the computer in weeks, because I'm still pretty sick from my accidental and idiotic exposure to toxic quantities of metal dust. At this point, metal dust (and glue!) is embedded in every inch of my skin and it feels like slivers of glass. Pieces are coming out my eyes, ears, mouth, and nose, and today I found out my right cornea has been cut yet again! I'm too scared to think about what is in my lungs (which hurt more every day), or what that will do to me.

I am going to the Environmental Health Center at Cambridge Hospital on Thursday. They are experts at exposure to toxins AND inhalation and skin exposures to metal dusts of all kinds.  At least they can tell me how bad it really is, which has to be better than what I've been imagining.

In the meantime, I thought I'd post some pictures taken by my son on his visit to Phoenix, Arizona last October.


These beautiful ducks are Gadwalls. I've never seen one (at least, I've never seen one clearly or up close), but I think they're lovely.


This is a gorgeous shot of two American Wigeons.


Look at this crazy bird! This is an American Coot, and I can't wait to see one with my own eyes. How cool is he?


My son must have been thrilled with this Says Phoebe, since he took about 50 pictures of it. Personally, I'm a bit underwhelmed.


Just some domestic geese, but I like the coloring of the one on the right.