TUCSON, ARIZONA

Nearly every June since 1994 I have made a trip to Tucson, Arizona for our International Bible Conference. In 2018, I asked my mom for some birding books for my birthday. Upon receiving Finding Birds in Southeast Arizona from the Tucson Audubon Society, I discovered an oasis in the heart of Tucson that I never knew existed: Sweetwater Wetlands Park. I had to go! 

The Gambel`s quail, Callipepla gambelii, is a small ground-dwelling bird. It inhabits the desert regions of Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, Texas, and Sonora. nnPhotographed in Sweetwater Wetlands Park, a reclaimed wastewater treatment facility managed for wildlife habitat in Tucson, Arizona. It is a stream riparian oasis in the southwestern desert. Photographed in June 2018.

Sweetwater Wetlands is a man-made wetland. Reclaimed waste water is pumped through a series of pools and has thus become an oasis in the desert. It has also become a birding hotspot! Gravel paths circumnavigate the cattail, bulrush and willow lined ponds. Where openings in the growth allow, a thick green covering organic over lies over the water’s surface. Willows and Cottonwoods provide shade and perches.

Red-winged Blackbird, Sweetwater Wetlands Park, Tucson Arizona, USA. June 10, 2018.

Blue Dasher Dragonfly, Sweetwater Wetlands Park, Tucson Arizona. June 14, 2018.

Focusing in on the green, duckweed covered ponds, one gets a sense of being immediately transported out of the arid desert and into a lush swamp. Turtles, ducks, cormorants, herons, dragonflies… a far different view than the stereotypical cactus and rock of the desert Southwest! Although plenty of the typical desert creatures roamed the park as well. ​

American Coot, Fulica americana, also known as a mud hen, is a bird of the family Rallidae. Though commonly mistaken to be ducks, American coots belong to a distinct order. Sweetwater Wetlands is a reclaimed wastewater treatment facility managed for wildlife habitat in Tucson, Arizona. Photographed in June 2018.

As the morning wore on and the SD card filled, I was amazed at the abundance of avian inhabitants in Sweetwater. I once thought Tucson was a desert that was absolutely devoid of non-reptilian wildlife. But ducks, coots, prolific doves and blackbirds, and many other small taxa were flitting about and calling from the bulrushes and cattails that filled Sweetwater Wetlands.

American Bullfrog frog, Sweetwater Wetlands Tucson Arizona. June 10, 2018.

White Winged Dove, Sweetwater Wetlands Tucson Arizona, USA. June 10, 2018.

The Grand Finale of my first Sweetwater visit was at the main gazebo overlooking an open pond. Another birding couple (and there became plenty of these as the morning moved on) had their binoculars raised toward the far end of a green pond just beyond where a Grebe was diving. An elegant Black-crowned Night Heron was perched on an overhanging branch.

Black - crowned Night - Heron, Nycticorax nycticorax, perched on log in duckweed swamp bog, willow trees. Sweetwater Wetlands is a reclaimed wastewater treatment facility managed for wildlife habitat in Tucson, Arizona. Photographed in June 2018.

My initial count yielded 24 bird species, eleven of which were first time Life Birds for me. All of these birds before 7:30 AM, at which time I was off to the hotel to get ready for church. I would be coming back to this desert oasis many times this week, and for years to come! ​

Tropical Kingbird, Sweetwater Wetlands in Tucson Arizona USA. June 10, 2018.

Lucys Warbler bird, Sweetwater Wetlands, Tucson Arizona. June 14, 2018.

Red Eared Slider Turtle, Sweetwater Wetlands, Tucson Arizona. June 14, 2018.

Common Gallinule; Sweetwater Wetlands, Tucson, Arizona. June 14, 2018.

Neotropic Cormorant, Phalacrocorax brasilianus, on driftwood in a pond. A bird of the tropical waterways of Central and South America, the Neotropic Cormorant reaches the upper limits of its range in Texas and occasionally, the Great Plains. Sweetwater Wetlands is a reclaimed wastewater treatment facility managed for wildlife habitat in Tucson, Arizona. It is a stream riparian oasis in the southwestern desert. Photographed in June 2018.

Mallard Duck on cattail pond, Sweetwater Wetlands in Tucson Arizona USA. June 14, 2018.

Black Chinned Hummingbird, Sweetwater Wetlands, Tucson Arizona. June 14, 2018.

More Sweetwater Wetlands Birding and Wildlife

Click the image to go to the photo journal blog...

6/10/18 More Birding in Sweetwater Wetlands

6/10/18 Sweetwater Reptiles and Wildlife

6/14/18 More Sweetwater Walks

6/16/19 Return to Sweetwater Wetlands Tucson