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This April was a tough month, not only did it contain the dreaded tax day but it was also saddled with an admittedly difficult Travel Challenge. We knew this one would be tricky! Waterfowl are abundant at Sweetwater Wetlands here in Tucson during the winter.

In final count the total number of birds in the picture was well over 100 (which surprised even me): 94 Northern Shovelers, 15 American Wigeons, 2 American Coots, 1 Mallard, and 1 Cinnamon Teal.

(Click to view larger version. For those of you that have a high speed connection, there is also a full-size version available [4.6 MB].)

As the photo attests, Northern Shovelers far outnumber any other species during Tucson’s cool months. A picture today at the Wetlands would probably have Coots as the most numerous, since by now the Shovelers have migrated north.

Though we do not have an official winner kudos to Karen for getting the main species correct and to Leah for getting pretty close in numbers.

Hopefully May will be kinder to us all…