Agua Fria

In a three-hour bird walk, Chuck Kangas, Dick Fogle and I covered an area of about a mile along the river from the Willcox Ranch cottonwoods to below the ford. During this time the weather was deteriorating from fair and sunny to threatening and windy. We finished the field trip by visiting the Zone-tailed Hawk nest along the river at the OK Ranch about eight miles upstream from the walk area.

In addition to many fine birds, there were several highlights of the trip. From a perch concealed in the mature cottonwoods, a Cooper’s Hawk chased a Red-tailed Hawk. We found ourselves in the midst of a large mixed-gender flock of Summer Tanagers beginning to spin off pairs and establish territories – the noise was impressive.

We also noted obviously paired and probably nesting Rock Wrens, Vermillion Flycatchers, and Common Ravens. The latter were tending a nest on a power pylon and the relief of the bird on the nest was apparently considerably delayed as the nest bird scolded its unreliable mate loud and long. The nesting Zone-tailed Hawks gave their regular defensive screaming and diving demonstration when we got too close.

Our small party counted 129 birds of 34 species.