Mt Lemmon AZ Images
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Visitor's Guide
    • Seasons
  • Birding Hotspots
    • Agua Caliente
    • Madera Canyon
    • Mt Lemmon
    • Portal, AZ
    • Sweetwater Wetlands
    • Texas Coast
    • White Water Draw
  • Birds
    • Acorn Woodpecker
    • American Bittern
    • American Coot
    • American Kestrel
    • American Robin
    • Arizona Woodpecker
    • Ash-throated Flycatcher
    • Black and White Warbler
    • Black-crowned Night-Heron
    • Black Phoebe
    • Black-throated Sparrow
    • Cactus Wren
    • Cedar Waxwing
    • Chihuahuan Raven
    • Common Raven
    • Cooper's Hawk
    • Crested Caracara
    • Curve-billed Thrasher
    • Elf Owl
    • Gambel's Quail
    • Gila Woodpecker
    • Great Blue Heron
    • Great Horned Owl
    • Green-tailed Towhee
    • Hooded Oriole
    • House Finch
    • Ladder-backed Woodpecker
    • Lazuli Bunting
    • Lesser Goldfinch
    • Northern Cardinal
    • Northern Flicker
    • Northern Mockingbird
    • Northern Shoveler
    • Phainopepla
    • Pied-billed Grebe
    • Plumbeous Vireo
    • Red-naped Sapsucker
    • Red-tailed Hawk
    • Rufous Hummingbird
    • Sandhill Crane
    • Sulfur-bellied Flycatcher
    • Verdin
    • Vermilion Flycatcher
    • White-crowned Sparrow
    • White-winged Dove
    • Williamson's Sapsucker
    • Yellow-rumped Warbler
  • About
  • Contact
  • Parting Shots
  • Member Content

Journal
(Blog)



New Year's Day 2018 at Fort Lowell Park

1/6/2018

4 Comments

 
Picture
American Kestrel enjoying New Year's Day at one of her favorite dining spots in midtown Tucson, Ft. Lowell Park.

Monday, January 1st we welcomed in the New Year at Fort Lowell Park, a Tucson City park on the site of the old fort at Craycroft and Ft. Lowell. The park is a treasure in the northern midtown area, on the south side of the Rillito River, and east of Craycroft, complete with soccer and baseball fields, tennis courts, a swimming pool, a playground, and a pond that attracts ducks and various water birds.  For more on the history of the fort and the historic site, see the website for the Old Fort Lowell Neighborhood Association.  Note that Fort Lowell Day will be on February 10th; a great chance to learn about the history of the fort and see cavalry reenactments. 

The park is a great wildlife area with a well maintained duck pond and adjacent fields.  Below a view of signage on the edge of the pond on the southside, with ball fields in the background to the right. Below that, a view of the pond from the northside facing south. 

Picture

Picture

We shared the park on the 1st with walkers and birders, dozens of ducks, and one female American Kestrel ​who was out looking for breakfast. Below she is standing on on the field south and west of the duck pond, looking for ground critters, likely voles, who have done a good job of aerating the field with their burrows.  We know this is a female by her warm red wings. Males have similar markings but with slate gray wings. 

The American Kestrel is the smallest falcon in North America, about the size of a Mourning Dove. 

Picture

I was able to catch her on different perches, mostly on high snags, but in the shot below she is sitting on top of a fence pole. Her size can be judged by the diameter of the post and especially the size of the chain links on the fence. 

Picture

From this perch she rapidly dove toward the field to catch a vole. Although I was waiting for her to fly, camera in "rapid focus, rapid fire flight mode," the first shot I got was toward the end of the dive when she is flaring her wings to slow down. She has almost every wing and tail feather displayed as she is in full "brake" mode.  The sequence that follows show her plunging into a hole looking for a vole. 

For the photo geeks: Canon EOS 7D Mark II with EF 100-400 IS II at 400 mm, 1/2500 sec at f 5.6,  ISO 400.  Post-production processing in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom.

Picture

Picture

Picture

Picture

Picture

She dug around for a while but came up empty, taking off to continue the hunt from another perch.  
Picture

Picture

Below, two images showing the early stage of another dive toward the turf.  Kestrel's are beautiful birds, probably my favorite raptor. 
Picture

Picture

The pond has lots of wild ducks, mixed in with what looks like a more permanent population of domestic waterfowl.  Below an American Widgeon.  For more on these birds and for  images in flight, see my last post of December 9, 2017, from Sweetwater Wetlands. 

Picture

Let's close with a familiar friend who is common, but always stands out. I have never seen a birding group that does not stop to marvel at a Vermilion Flycatcher, no matter how many they have seen. Below a male close up on a branch, not far from the duck pond. 

Picture
Picture

That's all for now - Happy New Year everyone! More posts coming soon.



4 Comments
Luiza
1/7/2018 08:28:29 am

Wonderful!
Thank you for introduction to Ft. Lowell Park - will check out!

Reply
Robin Kirk
1/8/2018 01:04:21 pm

Henry, these photos are amazing and beautiful! I love the one of the Kestrel swooping down for the vole! The mid flight spread winged shot is stunning! Thanks for sharing your gift of photography of wildlife, birds and landscapes!

Best,
Robin

Reply
Linda Currin
1/9/2018 03:30:26 pm

Your incredible photos and commentary make me so grateful and happy! And Happy New Year to you and Dorothy.

Reply
Dave Faust
1/30/2018 12:35:16 am

Wonderful photographs!! Try going again for the Red Tail Hawks waiting for the Pock Gophers. Does not end well for the gophers but that is the way of the desert. We have had cranes here (probably refugees from the Willcox Playa!)

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Henry Johnson, photographer and author of this site. For more detail, see About

    Categories

    All
    Agua Caliente Park
    Arizona Sonora Desert Museum
    Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum
    AZ
    Back Yard Birding
    Bosque Del Apache
    Canoa Ranch
    Cape May
    Catalina State Park
    Fort Lowell Park
    Ft. Huachuca
    Hereford
    Madera Canyon
    Mt Lemmon
    Oracle-state-park
    Oregon
    Panama
    Patagonia
    Portal AZ
    Ramsey Canyon
    Reid Park
    Sabino Canyon
    San Pedro River
    Santa Cruz Flats
    Sierra Vista
    Sweetwater Wetlands
    Texas Coast
    Tubac
    Tucson Audubon Festival
    Tucson Mountain Park
    White Water Draw

    Archives

    May 2025
    April 2025
    February 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    September 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    September 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    March 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    August 2020
    June 2020
    March 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    February 2019
    December 2018
    October 2018
    August 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Visitor's Guide
    • Seasons
  • Birding Hotspots
    • Agua Caliente
    • Madera Canyon
    • Mt Lemmon
    • Portal, AZ
    • Sweetwater Wetlands
    • Texas Coast
    • White Water Draw
  • Birds
    • Acorn Woodpecker
    • American Bittern
    • American Coot
    • American Kestrel
    • American Robin
    • Arizona Woodpecker
    • Ash-throated Flycatcher
    • Black and White Warbler
    • Black-crowned Night-Heron
    • Black Phoebe
    • Black-throated Sparrow
    • Cactus Wren
    • Cedar Waxwing
    • Chihuahuan Raven
    • Common Raven
    • Cooper's Hawk
    • Crested Caracara
    • Curve-billed Thrasher
    • Elf Owl
    • Gambel's Quail
    • Gila Woodpecker
    • Great Blue Heron
    • Great Horned Owl
    • Green-tailed Towhee
    • Hooded Oriole
    • House Finch
    • Ladder-backed Woodpecker
    • Lazuli Bunting
    • Lesser Goldfinch
    • Northern Cardinal
    • Northern Flicker
    • Northern Mockingbird
    • Northern Shoveler
    • Phainopepla
    • Pied-billed Grebe
    • Plumbeous Vireo
    • Red-naped Sapsucker
    • Red-tailed Hawk
    • Rufous Hummingbird
    • Sandhill Crane
    • Sulfur-bellied Flycatcher
    • Verdin
    • Vermilion Flycatcher
    • White-crowned Sparrow
    • White-winged Dove
    • Williamson's Sapsucker
    • Yellow-rumped Warbler
  • About
  • Contact
  • Parting Shots
  • Member Content