Patagonia Lake / Sonoita Creek IBA

Today was the dedication of Arizona’s newest Important Bird Area, comprising Sonoita Creek State Natural Area and Patagonia Lake State Park. The festivities started with a short walk along the lakeshore, which I was privileged to co-lead with IBA biologist Scott Wilbor. The morning started out cool and damp, but quickly brightened. Birding days have a way of doing that!

Patagonia Lake is a great place for lingering waterbirds. Single Clark’s and Western Grebes were a nice surprise, particularly when at the end of the walk we could watch them swimming side by side in a single scope field. Half a dozen Lesser Scaup were still on the lake, along with the usual small numbers of Ruddy Ducks, Green-winged and Cinnamon Teal, and Gadwall. I’d hoped, with an eye to next month’s Big Day, for a tardy Common Merganser or two, but it doesn’t look like that will happen this year.

We were lucky to find a male Black-capped Gnatcatcher right at the stairs above the lake, but unlucky in that only a couple of us got to see it. There were also several Blue-gray Gnatcatchers around, making for the usual Polioptila confusion. Migrant warblers were scant, though the arrival of so many Yellow Warblers is always exciting.

One of the many reasons that this is a truly important Important Bird Area is the presence of so many rare raptors. We had fantastic close views of two Gray Hawks, and a Zone-tailed Hawk escorted us back from the trailhead to the visitor center, where Velvet Elvis pizza awaited. Birds, food, and good company: my kind of celebration!