Sweetwater / Rillito loop

February 1, 2025

Another birding day, but a more ambitious one. It starts with me getting an uncharacteristically early start, biking down to then Saint Mary’s access to the loop before nine. It ‘s a gorgeous day - clear sky, essentially windless, but still quite cold when I leave the house - it’s barely broken 40 and I’m well layered up. I’m leaving so early because reading the checklists on eBird it’s clear that I need to be getting out there earlier in the day.

So it’s cold, but I’m hardly alone. Ahead of me on University are a steady stream of bikers, looking like club riders on a morning group outing. When I pull up at the light on Granada there must be forty of them all stopped there, looking left at an accursed inbound train that’s stopped on the tracks.

I’ve seen this story recently and am not about to stand here for who knows how long in the cold so I crowd my way through them and bike north, intending to cross under the Freeway at Speedway. That doesn’t happen though because I see a bike route marker I missed earlier that detours me off Granada (now N. Main) and routes me through a pair of colorful inner city barrios I haven’t seen before and eventually brings me to Grant, where I cross under instead.

I haven’t seen these neighborhoods before, so I tell myself the birds probably aren’t awake yet anyway and allow myself time for a few shots.

Once on the loop I allow myself another series of stops to collect more of the series of vintage bike and tour posters in the new art installation near the Prince Street exit.

Finally though I arrive at Sweetwater right about ten - which must be respectably good, judging by the number of cars of other birders filling the parking lot.

I take plenty of time at Sweetwater, locking the bike and then taking a slow walk around the perimeter of the eastern basin; and then afterwards moving on to the newer lagoons adjacent to the loop. It’s around 12:30:when I leave, and it’s clear the prime birding time has passed because the parking lot is nearly empty by now.

#84: Wilson’s snipe, the small bird on their left. I’ve seen this bird before but never noticed how small it is because his long bill is tucked in. It took three different serious birders with their huge cameras to point it out to me before I finally understood.

I’m not done with the day though. I’ve only biked around seven miles by now, and most of the ride is still ahead. I continue biking north and down the Santa Cruz until I come to the merge with Rillito Wash and turn east toward Mountain Avenue. And I keep adding birds to the day’s tally and get a nice shot of a secretive verdin peeking through the reeds. And I set a new record for the year: 34 birds in one outing, including six new ones for the year.*

And for me this is particularly exciting for what it shows about the advantages of the new camera. Last year I saw 86mspecies in and around Tucson when we finally left for California. With today’s haul I’ve exceeded that in just three weeks without even leaving town, and we’ve still got a full month left. There are probably thirty species still out there I’m hoping to reel in before we go.

The Cooper’s hawk’s view across the agricultural center on Rogers Road.

I’m startled when I return home and find a biker standing outside our gate, consulting his map. He’s a traveler, and has helpfully labeled himself as being on a round-the-world tour. So I ask him, and he sounds like the real deal. He started from his home in Poland and is crossing America on the Southern Tier route. Once he hits the Pacific Coast his plan is to fly to Hawaii for a loop through those Islands and then continue on to Capetown and Southeast Asia.

He’s puzzled by the street numbers, so I help him out by pointing him to his airbnb a block further to the west. And then I donate $5 to a good cause before finally asking his name. After two tries I give up because it’s Polish and a name I don’t recognize. He says that he’s posting his tour on both Facebook and Instagram, so maybe someone out there recognizes him?

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** Today’s tally (34): Mallard/ Gadwall/ Ring billed duck/ Pied billed grebe/ Vermillion flycatcher/ Wilson’s snipe*/ Ruddy duck/ Shoveler/ Snowy egret/ common Raven/Great blue heron/ Say’s Phoebe/ House sparrow/ Song sparrow/ Rough winged swallow/ Cooper’s hawk/ Gila woodpecker/ Mourning dove/ Phainopepla/ American wigeon/ Cinnamon teal/ American coot/ Black Phoebe/ Abert’s towhee/ White-crowned sparrow/ Greater roadrunner/ Ruby-crowned kinglet*/ Green-winged teal/ Myrtle warbler/ Chipping sparrow/ Least sandpiper/ House finch/ Tree swallow*/ Gambel’s quail

Rachael’s walk

Ramblin’ Rocky didn’t spend the whole day on the couch keeping warm by the space heater of course. As soon as the day warmed up to her specifications she left for a walk, one of a set that I’d mapped for her the day before. After we learned that we could ride the Sun Trans buses for free just like the streetcar, she asked me to look for ideas where she could take a bus further from home and walk back. From themap, one promising choice was the bus that runs north up Stone Avenue to the circle by the Tucson Mall. She settled on the loop that began there and after climbing up into the Catalina foothills doubled back to the Loop where she walked back home down Mountain Avenue. And she returned with a gallery of photos and a walking video.

And afterwards, in what might be another first since we went vagabond, we ate in together on a stir-fry she prepared for us with a frozen chicken breast she thawed and grilled. It was great! I’m sure we’ll start throwing nights like this into our evening meal mix in the future.

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Karen PoretWhere is everyone, Rachael? It was interesting you were the only person around. And, you’re a very fast walker! :)
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4 hours ago

Today's ride: 25 miles (40 km)
Total: 471 miles (758 km)

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Steve Miller/GrampiesGreat birding results!

We are under a foot of snow here, and unlike Rachael are hiding by the heater. We did spot a Varied Thrush yesterday, a lifer for us!
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11 hours ago