March 14, 2022
The Tubac Hawk Watch at Ron Morriss Park is an annual event that is anticipated by local birders. Each year it begins on the first of March and runs for a while. The big attractions are mostly the Common Black-hawks who migrate north along the Santa Cruz River. The numbers of these large raptors vary and usually are between 10 and about 80 per day. A special treat yesterday, 3-13-2022, was a dark Short-tailed Hawk. Amazingly, the same bird(?) showed up again this morning. It was at altitude. The overall numbers are paltry compared to the Borrego Hawk Watch – but still worth the trip. There were about 100 birders at the park this morning. A Scissor-Tailed Fly was reported early, but only one person saw it.
Also seen were two Zone-tailed Hawks and Crested Caracara, besides the usual TVs, Red-tails, and Cooper’s. Many of these birds fly over at the limits of photographic range.
After dipping on the Five-stripe Sparrow, Black-capped Gnat, and Fox Sparrow at Montosa Canyon I took a short drive up the well-graded Mount Hopkins gravel road. I found an SUV that had gone off the road, with large skid marks, abandoned with all the door left open. Alien smugglers rendezvous with border crossers in the vicinity to avoid the Border Patrol Checkpoint just north of Tubac. This stolen vehicle (verified) was likely overloaded and the driver lost control and went off the road. Had this occurred along most of Mount Hopkins Road it would have made national news.
