El Rio Preserve on the edge of Fall 2026. . .

Snowy Egret coming in for a landing, El Rio Preserve September 19, 2026.

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El Rio Preserve is a beautiful birding hotspot in the town of Marana, just off of Coachline Boulevard. For more on the preserve, click on the picture to the right. 

​I ventured out at 7 am on the morning of September 19th, and caught several species in good morning light. 

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Neotropic Cormorant

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Canon R5 MkII RF 100-500mm at 500mm, 1/1250 sec., f/7.1, ISO 500, EV +0.33.

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Neotropic Cormorants are waterbirds known for their skilled diving and underwater foraging. They live year round mostly in Mexico and South America, with sizable populations living in the southern wetlands of the U.S. They are regulars on ponds in and around Tucson. 

Shortly after 7 am on September 19th these two cormorants were warming up in the morning sun on dead tree branches not far from the observation deck. 

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Birds are born to do four things: Eat, don't get eaten (get lunch before you are lunch), make more birds (breed), and molt!  The first three tasks seem obvious, the fourth less so. However, molting - replacing feathers - is essential over the bird's lifetime to stay warm and keep flying "up to speed" (sorry, could not resist that one).  For most birds, molting generally occurs yearly, usually in the summer and early fall after breeding. Birds that sport breeding plumage to attract mates will molt twice a  year. 

For birds like cormorants who have to fly every day to eat, the flight feathers on the wings are replaced one at a time, symmetrically. In the image above we see a gap in the flight feathers on the right wing. 

In the close-up image to the right we see a hint of a new feather growing in at the base. 

Below we see a defect on the left wing, consistent with the symmetrical molting process. ​

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Below, our pair of Neotropic Cormorants rest in the morning sun, thinking about getting back in the water to look for breakfast. 

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For more on cormorants, see: 

Agua Caliente Park, Spring 2025: Wings Over Pond 1

This post includes details on Neotropic Cormorants; swimming, diving, feeding, and breeding, with images from the rookery at Smith Oaks bird Sanctuary at High Island, Texas. Click on the title above or the image to the right to go to the post.

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For more on molting see: 

Cardinals Molting in August: A Pre-Halloween Tragicomedy

This post is from Portal, Arizona, in the Chiricahua mountains, August 2022. It features a family of Northern Cardinals molting at the end of breeding season. The post also includes a more generalized discussion of molting, including links to more detail on wing anatomy and sequential feather replacement.

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​Great Egret

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Canon R5 MkII RF 100-500mm at 500mm, 1/4000 sec., f/7.1, ISO 640, EV -0.67.

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Great Egrets are water birds that wade in the shallows and spear fish with their long sharp bills. In the Tucson area, we see the Great Egret, yellow bill and black feet ("Hey look, I am GREAT, I have a YELLOW BILL!"), as well as the Snowy Egret (black bill, yellow feet, "Not everyone can be GREAT!"), which we will see shortly. 

The egret seen here is very intent on plucking twigs off of this dead branch in the early morning sun. This certainly looks like nest building behavior, but breeding ended in August. This could be nest repair for a late brood, or post-breeding behavior or play. 

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For more on Great Egrets, see the post below:

Texas Coast Part I: Best Little Rookery in Texas . . .

Great Egrets live year round worldwide, on all continents. They are common in the southern U.S. and Mexico. They nest in trees up to 100 feet in the air, usually in or near water. 

Click on the title above or the image to the right to go to this blog post from 2019.

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Snowy Egret

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Canon R5 MkII RF 100-500mm at 500mm, 1/4000 sec., f/7.1, ISO 800, EV -0.67.

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The Snowy Egret  is a member of the heron family,  and like its cousin the Great Egret is an aquatic wader, stirring up underwater prey with its bright yellow feet. The bird above is coming in for a landing on a section of the pond with a lot of vegetation. 

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During the breeding season, adult Snowy Egrets develop long, wispy feathers on their backs, necks, and heads, hence the name.  In the late 19th century these plumes were popular for women's hats, and ounce per ounce, were twice the price of gold. Plume-hunting killed many birds until reforms were passed in the early twentieth century in response to environmentalists led by Harriet Hemenway and Minna B. Hall, organizers of the Massachusetts Audubon Society. (Ref: All About Birds, Google AI Overview).

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Great Blue Heron

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Canon R5 MkII RF 100-500mm at 500mm, 1/4000 sec., f/7.1, ISO 1000, EV -1.

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Great Blue Herons are the largest of the North American herons, with long legs and a daggerlike bill. They commonly wade in wetlands, looking for fish, amphibians, reptiles, small mammals, insects, and other birds. The long curved neck increases the striking distance, allowing these birds to observe dinner from a distance, then strike to get its prey.  Their range is throughout Canada, the U.S. and Mexico, being year-round residents of SE Arizona and New Mexico. 

Here we see a great blue coming in for a landing. 

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Black Phoebe

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The Black Phoebe is a dapper flycatcher of the western U.S., with a range that extends down into Mexico and western South America.  They are common in SE Arizona, often seen over ponds and streams catching bugs in a repetitive fashion off of a single perch.

Here we see a Black Pheobe on the left of the frame taking off after a moth or butterfly at the far right of the frame.

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Canon R5 MkII RF 100-500mm at 500mm, 1/3200 sec., f/7.1, ISO 2000, EV +0.33.

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In the frame below the insect is flying upward, likely part of its chaotic flight pattern, and not a true avoidance manuver. The phoebe puts on the brakes and goes into a climb. 

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Below, it looks like this will be a successful sortie. Mouth open, ready for the capture. 

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Below, a barrel roll to the left, keeping an eye on the prize . . .

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Above and below, breakfast is becoming elusive, but our hunter still has his eye on the target. 

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Below, "Awww fudge! Not  gonna get it this time . . .  probably sour anyway . . . ."

The Black Phoebe heads back to his perch. ​

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All birds feed in the most efficient manner, burning as little energy as possible to get their daily calories. This means knowing when to give up the hunt!

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For more on hawking, i.e.grabbing food in mid-air, see:

Warblers on the Mountain, Fall 2024, Part I

For success catching bugs on the fly see this post from 2024 which includes a Painted Redstart successfully getting lunch midair in Summerhaven.

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Barn Swallow

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Canon R5 MkII RF 100-500mm at 500mm, 1/4000 sec., f/7.1, ISO 1000, EV +0.33.

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The Barn Swallow is the most abundant and widely distributed swallow species in the world, breeding throughout the Northern Hemisphere including Arizona and wintering in much of the Southern Hemisphere. They are glistening cobalt blue above and tawny below, with bolder colors in the male. They have long deeply forked tails which aid rapid maneuverability in flight. For more detail, see my post from May 2025, cited below. 

​Barn Swallows feed on insects, foraging in open areas including suburban parks, ball fields, and over open water. El Rio Preserve is an ideal place for them. 

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A small swarm of them were circling high above the pond on September 19th. They fly fast and erratically, and are tough to photograph! I was able to track a few and get this series of images. 

For the photo geeks: This series was shot with a Canon R5 Mark II set for eye-focus, f/7.1, at 1/4000 sec., ISO 1000. For birds flying this fast and unpredictably, I try to shoot at 1/4000 second or faster, balancing shutter speed against the ISO. The Black Phoebe series shown earlier in this post was shot at 1//3200 second, probably a bit too slow for motion this fast at this focal length.

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Like the Black Phoebe, this Barn Swallow is hawking for insects. 

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For a swallow potpourri, see this post from May 2025:

More Aerobatics: Swallows Continue the Show at Ft. Lowell Park​

​On April 19, 2025 I visited Ft. Lowell Park in Tucson  and was surprised by  ~100 swallows circling over the pond.  About 90% were Northern Rough-winged, kettling with a handful of Barn Swallows (shown to the right) and a few Violet-greens. 

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That's all for now!  More soon.
Happy trails!