Story and photos by Cheryl Hartz
Even if you never have aspired to birdwatching, once a winged one grabs your attention, I’m afraid you are hooked.
Pretty much any trail or outdoor activity anywhere, any time of the year, will feature our feathered friends. You start to notice and look for them. You might even seek out special sites for the best opportunities to add to your life list, if you are so inclined to keep one.
I haven’t actually made a list, but I certainly like to spot different species of birds. In March, 2022, while camping at Roper Lake, my husband and I made a special trip to Whitewater Draw Wildlife Area in southeastern Arizona, about 2 hours away. If you haven’t heard of it, it’s the Arizona Game and Fish Department-owned property near Bisbee where 20,000 sandhill cranes migrate for the winter.
They are true Arizona snowbirds. And they’ve been coming here for centuries. Native people etched petroglyphs of the cranes along the lower Gila River.
The shallow waters and surrounding cornfields attract the cranes from as far as Siberia. The monster combined flock, or sedge, stands in the Draw’s water each night, safe from predators, and flies out en masse each morning to socialize and graze the harvested cornfields.
The gray bodies aren’t so eye-catching on their own, but the red top knots can catch the sunlight and the sheer scope of them flying together is like nothing I’ve seen before. They constantly vocalize as well, so you’re hearing them even before seeing them.
Joining them for the winter is a variety of water birds, including great numbers of snow geese, with their distinctive white bodies and black wing tips. Observing all of these large avians in the air is amazing. The cranes soar so high they look like tiny dots and even can ascend completely out of human eye range, while flying in V formations.
Sandhill cranes start their migration in September and head back to their breeding grounds in mid-to-late March. The best time to view them is from November to the end of February. A trail circles the area and has benches and viewing platforms.
Dogs are welcome at Whitewater Draw, but must be leashed and picked up after, as usual.
Check out the azgfd.com website for Whitewater Draw and take a look at the live Crane Cam. Also visit the site for the annual Bird & Nature Festival in Willcox Jan. 12-15, 2023, Wings Over Willcox: wingsoverwillcox.com. I haven’t yet attended this event, which is in its 30th year, but it’s on my list now that I know about it.
Happy Birding!
