A Few Hours at a Farm in Pima County

Part One of a two part series

A friend and I like to spend time on a farm west of Tucson. Sometimes we just park the truck, sit and wait for birds to show up. Other times we drive up and down the farm roads in between fields over and over again, spotting the birds that come and go. Here are some of the birds we saw one winter afternoon on the farm. Loggerhead Shrikes arrive in numbers each winter in Southern Arizona. They look like they are formally dressed in the gray, black and white and will perch on a 'high' spot in the fields, in search of prey.

It is somewhat difficult for me to distinguish among the many species of sparrows. Sometimes known as LBBs (Little Brown Birds), their size and mostly brown plumage make the many species look similar, even when viewed closely. The Savannah Sparrow is a winter visitor to our parts. They have a little patch of yellow feathers in front of their eyes.

Rock Wrens are fairly common at this farm. Cousins to the Cactus Wren, Rock Wrens prefer rocky habitat, as their name implies. At the farm we see them most often around irrigation ditches and along the dirt that borders those ditches.

The Say's Phoebe is a bird of open country. It can be seen on low perches from which it will search for insects to feed on. It often will fly out to grab the insect either in the air or on the ground, and then return to the same perch.

My friend and I have been to this farm many times and had never seen a Great Horned Owl there. That day, we did see one roosting in a dense mesquite tree. As we admired it, it soon flew off into the desert towards the east.

Towards sunset, the light changes as reflected in the photo below. With the sun at our backs, a Lark Sparrow was perched with others along chain link and barbed wire fencing at the eastern edge of the farm. The unusual facial pattern and the black spot in the middle of its breast helps this little brown bird to stand out from others.

With that same sunset lighting, a pair of Red-tail Hawks were great to see at the end of our afternoon.

Both hawks had been perched side-by-side on a telephone pole earlier in the afternoon. Near sunset when we found them on this bare snag, it made for a much better photo. The light at this time of day leads to warmer colors in the photo.

The second Red-tailed Hawk was perched closer to lower vegetation.

My post will feature two other raptors seen at the farm that afternoon- a Burrowing Owl and an American Kestrel.