Tuesday, March 1…Cranes In The Sky (Solange)

   Yesterday after watching the Crane Cam at Whitewater Draw on and off throughout the afternoon I wondered if it was possible to go there but I had to do my homework before I mentioned it to Kim…I knew he’d have questions.  Where is it located?  How far is it from Picacho?  Is it open to the public?  Is it easily accessible?

   Located in McNeal, AZ, which is about 30 miles past Tombstone, making it about a 2 ½ hour, 145 mile drive and yes, it is open to the public and I’ve never been there but I assume it’s easily accessible because camping is allowed. Strap yourselves in, kids, we’re going on a field trip. 👍

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   I checked the Crane Cam occasionally as we drove to make sure the birds were there.  As Rapunzel was telling us our destination was up ahead I looked to the right and saw a familiar sight…the view I’d been seeing on the live cam.  Yippee skippee!  As we parked Kim mentioned that he hoped it met my expectations.  Afterwards I assured him that “Yes, it did!!”

  It wasn’t anything fancy…a walking path that meandered along the shore of a shallow lake and a marshy area, several benches strategically placed, and two viewing platforms.  Bathrooms were port-a-johns and the parking area was gravel and not too big.  I was totally unprepared for what “more than 20,000 sandhill cranes” might look like, which is the estimated size of the flock according to the AZGFD website.  More than the eyes can take in. However, I was expecting more noise. Yes, they were talking to each other but it wasn’t crazy loud, just a constant low key chatter.  Two or three times we heard major squawking erupt and watched as a section of cranes took flight.  They circled the water 5 or 6 times and then resettled.  After one especially large group took off I heard a lady mention that was the largest kerfluffle she’d ever seen.  Kerfluffle is defined as ‘a commotion or fuss’ and I think that was a perfect description of what we were seeing and hearing. 

   There was absolutely no way pictures could capture the immensity of the flock but that didn’t keep me from trying.  Video proved to be a better way to document what I was seeing and Kim decided last night that it would be a great opportunity to try out his GoPro.  A drone would have also gotten good footage of the entire flock but understandably they’re not allowed. 

   Saw a man sitting in a chair taking pictures of the cranes using a massive camera lens. He also had a wheeled cart to haul his equipment.  This was not his first rodeo, that’s for sure.  As he was leaving I asked him if he took pictures for himself, to sell, or for a magazine.  Turns out he’s a retired photographer who just still feels the need to take pictures.  Even though my camera is a basic point and shoot, I certainly understand his desire.    

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   While it’s safe to say that the cranes are the main attraction at Whitewater Draw there are other waterfowl out there that deserve recognition also.  We saw a flock of snow geese mingling with the cranes…they took flight at one point also, eventually settling back in the water. There were also some very interesting ducks along with a busy little shoreline bird.  Definitely have to look those up when we get back to camp. As we were leaving I saw a sign about the types of ducks seen in the area and it had them broken into two categories: divers and dabblers.  Dabbler…that word would prove to be very helpful in my search.  It didn’t take long to identify the birds we saw when I searched for “Dabblers found at Whitewater Draw” and then compared the results with the pictures I had taken.  

Definition of Dabbler:

   A dabbling duck is a type of shallow water duck that feeds primarily along the surface of the water or by tipping headfirst into the water to graze on aquatic plants, vegetation, larvae, and insects. These ducks are infrequent divers and are usually found in small ponds, rivers, and other shallow waterways, or else they may stay near the shallow, slower edges of larger waterways and swamps.

Northern Pintail:  Northern Pintails are elegant, long-necked ducks with a slender profile. The tail is long and pointed, but it is much longer and more prominent on breeding males than on females and nonbreeding males. In flight, the wings are long and narrow.

   Breeding male Northern Pintails stand out with a gleaming white breast and a white line down their chocolate brown head and neck.  (allaboutbirds.org)

Northern Shoveler:  The bill of the Northern Shoveler is big (about 2.5 inches long) and shaped like a shovel, but that odd-shaped bill also has about 110 fine projections (called lamellae) along the edges

that act like a colander, filtering out tiny crustaceans, seeds, and aquatic invertebrates from the water.

   Northern Shovelers are monogamous and remain together longer than pairs of most other dabbling ducks. They form bonds on the wintering grounds and stay together until just before fall migration. (allaboutbirds.com)

    A lady who has been to the Draw many times was helpful in identifying one of the birds.  She said it was a coot, as in ‘you old coot’. 😎 American Coot:  The waterborne American Coot is one good reminder that not everything that floats is a duck. A close look at a coot—that small head, those scrawny legs—reveals a different kind of bird entirely. Their dark bodies and white faces are common sights in nearly any open water across the continent, and they often mix with ducks. But they’re closer

relatives of the gangly Sandhill Crane and the nearly invisible rails than of Mallards or teal.

   The coot doesn’t have webbed feet like a duck. Instead, each one of the coot’s long toes has broad lobes of skin that help it kick through the water. The broad lobes fold back each time the bird lifts its foot, so it doesn’t impede walking on dry land, though it supports the bird’s weight on mucky ground. (allaboutbirds.com)

Sandpiper:  I’m not so good at the finer details of bird identification so the most I can say is that I saw two sandpipers.  Don’t know that they were even the same species of sandpiper…I just know that they were small, searching along the shoreline for food and constantly moving. 

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   We ended our day out with a stop at Arizona Pizza Company for a salad and a calzone then cruised on back to camp in time to get a short walk in before sunset.  It was a good day!!