Avra Valley Passerines

The sewage ponds at Avra Valley are widely and rightly famed for the waterbirds and waders they attract; any site that turns up Wood Duck, Tricolored Heron, and Black Tern in the middle of the desert deserves its renown.

All those were among the 63 species Denis and Rick (“the other Rick”) and I enjoyed on this morning’s visit. But even more impressive was the songbird showing. The mesquite bosque surrounding the facility, the row of struggling cottonwoods south of the westmost ponds, and the ornamental plantings around the buildings make Avra Valley a rewarding and slightly underappreciated migrant trap for passerines, too.

Yellow Warblers were everywhere today in the amaranth jungle, and we ran across a few Wilson’s Warblers and a single MacGillivray’s Warbler, too. The great emberizid flocks are yet to come, but the resident Abert’s Towhees and Rufous-winged Sparrows are already sharing the brushy edges with large numbers of Lark Sparrows. More color was supplied by Bullock’s Orioles, Northern Cardinals, a Pyrrhuloxia, and larger numbers of Blue Grosbeaks and Lazuli Buntings. And overhead, Bank Swallows, always notable in southeast Arizona, joined the insectivorous throng.