March 24, 2020
The Conoa Conservation Park is located along I-19 about 4 miles south of Continental Road. Take the (east) I-19 Frontage Road south from Continental about one mile past the hospital. The entrance is hard to see. Canoa’s gate is open from 6am to 4pm. If you get there before the gate closes you can stay until sunset. Saturday mornings there is a hosted bird walk at 8am.
Conoa is an easy place to bird. There is a decent-sized pond, with no fish, that attracts hundreds of ducks and last winter hosted a Common Goldeneye and a lost Red-Breasted Merganser. Several Sandpipers, including Spotted and Least wintered. A Pectoral Sandpiper was reported also. Currently there are Ruddy Ducks, Lesser Scaup and a few American Wigeon paddling about. Another totally out-of-place bird today is a Neo-tropic Cormorant.
A decent number of Dickcissels stopped by Canoa in September. As many a seven birds seen.
Multiple Mac’s warblers were seen at Canoa in September. They hung out in the weedy fields.
Beyond the pond the Pima County has just torn up about 7 acres of weedy field habitat and is replacing it with a “pollinators’s garden.” Beyond the new garden a vast expanse of weedy field will, hopefully, remain. The site was used, in earlier time, for grains, especially amaranth. The photos, above depict Grasshopper Sparrow and Dickcissel on amaranth seed heads. The old fields sport vast stands of this weedy grain, and in the birds are strongly attracted to it. The weeds are full of mice, rats and places for sparrows, finches, dickcissels, grosbeaks, and warblers to forage. Harriers make constant passes over the fields. Just north of the pond, the county is finishing up work on a marshy habitat.
This area sounds super. I agree that hopefully they will eave a sizable weedy, wild place as is. Those buntings just fade into the ground, don’ they? Super camouflaged! The Dickcissel is so pretty with that yellow on it’s breast. All of the sparrow photos are very nice. I enjoy looking for and at sparrows despite it being frustrating in the winter and these pics will be helpful.