Kino Springs

Famous for its ‘tropical’ specialties in the warmer seasons, Kino Springs is a completely different place in winter, crawling with waterfowl and passerines, as our group discovered today.

The double pond at the golf course clubhouse was covered with ducks, including Canvasback, Lesser Scaup, and a great variety of dabblers. A spectacular Sora fed in the open for stunning scope views, and brushy edges were occupied by Vesper, Lark, and Brewer’s Sparrows, with a few Lark Buntings joining them for good measure.  A single Ruddy Ground-Dove gave disappointingly brief and distant views before flying on.  A dozen Tree Swallows materialized at one point, swooping low over the water to show their bright backs.

The large pond nearest the highway (famous in recent years for late-summer incursions of Painted Buntings) was quiet, but three female-plumaged Hooded Mergansers floating near the far shore were the perfect ending to another outstanding morning in southeast Arizona.