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Monday, February 03, 2014

Sweetwater Wetlands morning

We had light rain Friday night and into Saturday morning.

There were clouds and fog over the Catalinas when we woke in the morning.

We decided to take a drive over to Sweetwater Wetlands for some early morning birding.
 
It was chilly and raw, we bundled up....
 
Sweetwater_002The morning rains brought gorgeous clouds ..
Oh how I love clouds!
 
Sweetwater_004We walked the path to the first pavilion.
 
Sweetwater_005I stopped to take photos of raindrops on the railing.
 
Sweetwater_009Jeff looked for birds..
 
Sweetwater_016A winding circle of Northern Shovelers..
It made me dizzy watching them make their endless circle.
 
Sweetwater_010
Feeding time
 
Sweetwater_014We checked the tall grasses for birds..
Marsh wrens and Common yellowthroats were calling.
 
Sweetwater_019
An Audubon group of new birders In front of us on the path..I spoke to one of the birders who said that the first part of their class was indoors, they were now testing their new found skills in the field...
 
I stop and am delighted to see these Cotton Ball clouds..
Sweetwater_020

Tree touching..

Sweetwater_022

I took a few photos of the birds I could capture with my baby point and shoot.

Below is my crappy photo of a Wilsons warbler..

I seriously need that Canon with the 50x zoom that many of my friends have.

Though, I don’t know if that would even help.

Sweetwater_025A butt shot of an Abert’s towhee..

I need to take a one on one class with a photographer..I have been saying this for years..Anyone want to volunteer?

I am sure I can do better than this. Smile

Sweetwater_031A halfway decent photo of a Verdin

 

Sweetwater_049Ruddy Duck..

Sweetwater_066

We search the cottonwoods for warblers..

We didn’t find the Black and White warbler that was being seen, though we did see many Orange crowned warblers.

Sweetwater_069We finished the loop around the wetlands..

Sweetwater_071Tallied up the bird count with my Ebird app and packed it up to go to one of our favorite coffee shops in town (Bentleys) for a little bite to eat.

Next stop~Saguaro  National Park West

Sweetwater_001

Bird count at Sweetwater

 Feb 1, 2014
Sweetwater Wetlands
Traveling
1 miles
180 Minutes
Observers: 2
All birds reported? Yes
Comments:
Submitted from BirdLog NA for iOS, version 1.7.1
Mallard
Mallard (Mexican)
Northern Shoveler
Green-winged Teal
Bufflehead
Ruddy Duck
Pied-billed Grebe
Neotropic Cormorant
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Cooper's Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Sora
American Coot
Black-necked Stilt
Spotted Sandpiper
Least Sandpiper
Eurasian Collared-Dove
Mourning Dove
Anna's Hummingbird
Gila Woodpecker
Ladder-backed Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Black Phoebe
Verdin
Cactus Wren
Bewick's Wren
Marsh Wren
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
European Starling
Orange-crowned Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Abert's Towhee
Song Sparrow
Red-winged Blackbird
Great-tailed Grackle
House Finch
Lesser Goldfinch
Common Gallinule
Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon

2 comments:

  1. I love that shot of the cloud in the sky. So beautiful. Loving the clouds today...:)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Great outing and list of birds! I love the pretty clouds and your cute bird shots. The Verdin is on my want to see list. Have a great week!

    ReplyDelete

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