In preparation for the upcoming festival next weekend, I spent the day counting cranes and scouting around the Willcox and Kansas Settlement area. To start the day, I assisted with the AGFD Sandhill Crane count for the entire Sulphur Springs Valley. The morning was cold at 22 degrees, but warmed up nicely once the sun came up. After all the totals came in from the different count areas I was amazed when the grand total added up to 40,499 cranes for the valley! A new record count for wintering Sandhill Cranes! Most of these (33,000) were counted at Whitewater Draw during the morning lift-off.
After the count I drove the roads around the outskirts of Willcox seeking sparrows for the Sparrow Seeks. White-crowned Sparrows were the most numerous sparrow by far, and I only managed to see 1 Brewer’s Sparrow! I was pleased to see a SAGE SPARROW among the Black-throated at the Pioneer Cemetery. While driving Saguaro Road I came across a large flock of White-crowned Sparrows with a few Savannah and Vesper by a house with a nicely wooded fenceline and across from a corn field. By pure chance I manage to spot a female RUDDY GROUND-DOVE perched on a mesquite along the road. It was just a few years when we had one for the festival!
The most interesting sight while in Willcox was a Harris’s Hawk that I observed perched well inside an enclosed metal barn (a good 80′ from the only entrance)! I went in looking for owls and there he was! He flew once to another perch, spooking the Rock Pigeons inside, and I suspect they were the reason he was there.
Driving around Kansas Settlement was very productive for raptors. There were at least a dozen Ferruginous Hawks in the fields, three Prairie Falcons, many Red-tails, and one adult BALD EAGLE. A few flocks of Horned Larks and meadowlarks were in the fields, as well as a few Mountain Bluebirds (but no large flocks). All in all a beautiful day in the Sulphur Springs Valley!
-Homer Hansen