WHITEWATER DRAW

On Friday, the 8th of February, we went with Stein and Colleen to Whitewater Draw to see the Sandhill Cranes.

On our way there we saw this group of Yellow Headed Blackbirds.  There must have been hundreds.  This is the best picture I could get because if we tried to get out of the car to take the picture closer they flew away.  There were also some Brown Headed Cowbirds, Brewer's Blackbirds and Redwinged Blackbirds mixed in, but as you can see by the picture the majority were Yellow Headed.

Above are Sandhill Cranes coming in for a landing.  We didn't get to see the major lift off, but we did get to see many of them landing.

There were also Snow Geese mixed in with the Sandhill Cranes

It wasn't real cold, but very windy.  Bob had to hold on to his hat so it didn't blow away!!

The highlight of my day was to see these Great Horned Owls!  They were perched in a shed like structure.  We even had our lunch on a picnic table right below them.  They never took their eyes off of us.

At first I didn't think they were paying attention to us, but I walked around behind them to take a picture from the back and as you can see their heads followed me.

I thought this picture of these Pintail Ducks was interesting.  They had all bobbed down at the same time!

BOTTOMS UP!!

We also saw a Great White Egret

And a Greater Yellow Legs

We also saw many, many Redtail Hawks.  

It's a long way to Whitewater Draw from Green Valley, but time well spent.