Phoenix

My sister-in-law, Val, is staying with us for ten days, so I took the chance to get out with the camera on the way to collect her from Phoenix Sky Harbor. It’s great having Val here, as it means we’ll be getting out to do lots of cool stuff in the next week and a half. Of course, it’s just great having Val here anyway. Val’s great!

I started at Sweetwater Wetland in Tucson, which proved to be more successful than the previous attempt to visit this site because it was actually open this time. I spent a good while at the Hidden Pond but if there was a waterthrush lurking in there, I couldn’t presuade it to show. It appears I’m destined never to see a Northern Waterthrush in Arizona. There was the expected selection of birds and dragonflies, but the lizards caught my eye. They won’t be out much during the next six months, so this was one of my last chances of the year. In all I saw five species: Desert and Clark’s Spiny Lizards, Zebra-tailed Lizard, Sonoran Spotted Whiptail and Ornate Tree Lizard.

I headed north and, unusually, managed to navigate my way through Phoenix to Gilbert Water Ranch without getting lost once. Great place, this (GWR, that is, not Phoenix itself, which I find to be a bit too false for my taste). Within a few minutes I’d seen a variety of shorebirds including Lesser Yellowlegs, Least and Spotted Sandpiper, Long-billed Dowitcher and Black-necked Stilt, plus Great Egret, Green and Great Blue Heron, a sprinkling of ducks, sparrows, towhees, phoebes, hummingbirds and more. There were also a few Peach-faced Lovebirds about. This parrot has established itself in the Phoenix area and the Water Ranch is probably the best place to see them. I think there’s some motion towards accepting them onto the Arizona list as they’ve been a self-sustaining population for many years.

Whichever way you turn at the Water Ranch, there’s always something to look at. If it’s not the birds it’s the insects. And now that I know to look out for them, I again found the tiny Western Pygmy Blue butterfly in reasonable numbers.

Not surprisingly, I did get lost on the way from Gilbert to the airport (I’m not someone who’s always getting lost, it’s just bloody Phoenix!), but managed to get there just in time to meet Val. And now, coming up this week: Las Vegas and Cochise Stronghold. Stay tuned…