Springwater / Tumamoc Hill

February 16, 2025

It’s another split day, where I’m biking and Rachael’s walking. But I’m barely biking, because I’m saving my legs for tomorrow when conditions look excellent for my shot at riding my age in miles, it’s a good excuse to head out to Sweetwater again to check out the birding scene. I take the lock, I take it easy, and I have an excellent day. It’s a day when I won’t know how well I’ve done until culling through the 500 photos I return with. I’m especially anxious to see whether I succeeded in getting a shot of a northern harrier making passes high overhead, when I just pointed the camera skyward and took a number of burst shots hoping I’d get lucky; and the same happened with the tree swallows dashing around over the lake. Most frustrating of all though were the tantalizing, tormenting ladder-backed woodpeckers. I’ve been hearing them regularly out here and occasionally briefly seeing one as it rockets from its hiding place in one nearby tree I’ve been craning up at to another too far off to be worth pursuing.

Today though there are four of them and possibly even six. And they’re all staying right in the vicinity. There’s one loudly calling straight above my head, and no matter where I stand I can’t see him until he suddenly flies off to some other tree. But it’s still nearby, so I hobble over to it and start looking there without success too. Finally I decide to just point the camera at the sound and start firing away.

I’ll bet 400 of the 500 frames I brought back were of those three birds. The results? One poor but identifying shot of the tree swallow. Two surprisingly good shots of the harrier, each of them just barely inside the frame tucked up in the northwest corner. And a half a dozen shots of the same woodpecker, one of which is good enough for me. And 39 species! An excellent rest day.

This is a shock when I first come to Sweetwater and look at the first lagoon I come to, one of a set of them south of the refuge itself. Three rays earlier I was here and the basin was full and brimming with ducks. Today it’s bone dry and barren.

Later I’ll look more closely at this map of the refuge and see that these are described as recharge lagoons. I haven’t studied the hydraulics here but I assume they’re filled by drainage water collected from beneath the city. They must be essentially settling ponds that periodically get flushed downstream. Maybe it’s no coincidence that today was such a good birding day in the refuge itself.

Snowy egret. I’ve never noticed their brilliant yellow feet before.

The same snowy egret again. I couldn’t get over his magnificent feet.

Apricot mallow. Day by day we’re seeing more color pop out. Spring is in the air.

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Rachael’s been waiting for the right day to take another hike up into the foothills of the Tucson Mounrains. I’ve drawn one up for her that starts the same as her hike up the Starr Pass trail, the one when she saw a deer. Like that hike, this one begins by her catching the westbound #5 bus at its stop two blocks away from here on Seedway and riding it to the end of the line at Pima community college. After that it’s the identical walk for the first three miles but then branches northwest along the Yetman Trail in the direction of Gates Pass.

After looking at the bus schedule though she changes her mind. It’s the weekend, and bus service (which likely exists largely to service the decides community college) is cut way back and only runs hourly. It will make much more sense to take that hike during the week someday soon, so instead she decides to climb Tumamoc Hill again, a steep, challenging walk she took a few weeks ago and is ready for again.

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We’re both home by early afternoon and decide to have a late lunch at Gentle Ben’s, a brewpub I ate at myself a few weeks ago. Rachael books a table on the patio for us for 3:00, and she walks over while I bike and lock up right beneath our table. And it doesn’t take us long to conclude that we’ll be back. I enjoy my chicken tacos and as she does her salad, but the deal sealer is the starter, a bowl of Brussels sprouts with fried kale and honey. Oh, my gosh. Well come back just for the Brussels sprouts!

Brussels sprouts!! I almost forgot to take a photo in time.

Afterwards we move on to the CVS store on the next corner for some restocking - another gallon of milk, trail mix and Kind bars for my snack lunches, and also a knee brace to see if it will give me any relief when I’m walking. It’s time to try something other than just the ibuprofen, so expect a report out on that before long.

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** Rock dove, Mourning dove, House finch, Savannah sparrow,Lincoln’s sparrow, Song sparrow, White-crowned sparrow, Black Phoebe, Vermillion flycatcher, Northern harrier, Cassin’s kingbird, Ring-billed duck, Mallard, Pied -billed grebe, American wigeon, Green winged teal, Shoveler, American coot, Gadwall Gila woodpecker, Ladder backed woodpecker, Northern harrier, Northern flicker, Snowy egret, Ruddy duck, Abert’s towhee, Rough-winged swallow, Tree swallow, Northern mockingbird (39)

Today's ride: 16 miles (26 km)
Total: 887 miles (1,427 km)

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