A Rainy Day in the Grasslands

In all of Arizona, there is perhaps no more dramatic landscape, and no landscape more difficult to photograph, than the San Rafael grasslands. You come out of the top of Harshaw Canyon, and there it is beneath you, tall grass studded with oaks; the mental music starts up, and you fully expect a young Linda Evans to come galloping over the ridge.

Instead we found plenty of Horned Larks and Savannah Sparrows, beauties in themselves, with scattered flocks of Vesper Sparrows. Raptors were not abundant, but it is always a joy to watch Northern Harriers, and American Kestrels were present in good numbers; a juvenile Peregrine Falcon was perched on the ground in front of a blithe flock of Mountain Bluebirds.

The fanciest bird of prey of the grasslands, though, is the one in the picture above. There aren’t very many White-tailed Kites in Arizona, but the San Rafael is a good place to look, even on a dark and rainy day like today.