fautrever.com

Water in the desert is usually scarce but lucky for us our RV park is located next to such a rarity. Along the eastern bank of the once-flowing, but now dry, Santa Cruz river lies Sweetwater Wetlands. Sweetwater is a series of ponds and recharge basins that act as the final filtering stage for secondary (already treated) effluent from the nearby Roger Road Wastewater Treatment Plant.

The recharge basins are ringed with wells that pull the water back up from underground and this “reclaimed” water is then re-used to irrigate golf courses and parklands around town. It may not be a natural oasis and it might have a slight sulfury odor but we don’t mind and the wildlife certainly doesn’t either.

Since the wetlands opened in 1996 over 200 species of birds have been spotted in the lush trees and marsh-like growth that surrounds the ponds. Though relatively small, the 18 acres of wetland ponds offer many migratory birds a place to rest as they fly south during the winter and some species even choose to overwinter here. On every one of our visits to the wetlands we have been treated to at least one new species. Our full list of sightings is below but as I am sure you can imagine this oasis attracts far more than birds. So far we have come across Coyotes, Desert Cottontail Rabbits, Tree Lizards, Arizona Gray Squirrels, Red-eared Sliders, Raccoon prints, Skunk scent, and we even had a close encounter with a good-sized Western Diamondback Rattlesnake.

Our visits have mostly taken place in the late afternoon but we are hoping to catch dawn out there one of these days; it is just so hard to get out of bed now that it is in the 30s at night (Fahrenheit). That’s downright chilly for me! Stay tuned as this week we will be checking out a couple other birding “hot spots” here in the Tucson area.

Our sightings so far (in no particular order): Gadwall, American Wigeon, Mallard, Cinnamon Teal, Northern Shoveler, Bufflehead, Ruddy Duck, Pied-billed Grebe, Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Green Heron, Black-crowned Night-Heron, American Coot, Common Moorhen, Killdeer, Sora, Cooper’s Hawk, Belted Kingfisher, Harris’s Hawk, Red-tailed Hawk, American Kestrel, Gambel’s Quail, White-winged Dove, Mourning Dove, Inca Dove, Rock Dove (Pigeon), Gila Woodpecker, Red-naped Sapsucker, Northern Flicker, Gilded Flicker, Phainopepla, Black Phoebe, Cassin’s Vireo, Verdin, Marsh Wren, Curve-billed Thrasher, Abert’s Towhee, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Hermit Warbler, Song Sparrow, Red-winged Blackbird, Yellow-headed Blackbird, Great-tailed Grackle, House Finch.