Lake Cochise, Willcox - December 5, 2023

 Willcox is an interesting town about 75 miles northeast of Sierra Vista, with a population of about 3200, in the Sulphur Springs Valley.  Known as the hometown of Rex Allen, a 1950s movie and TV actor as a singing cowboy, Willcox is now prominent as the largest wine producing region in Arizona.  The town conducts various festivals throughout the year, including "Wings Over Willcox" to attract birders from all over the country to witness wintering birds and waterfowl.   The stars of the show are sandhill cranes and snow geese that migrate from as far away as Siberia.

Looking for a change of scenery, I visited Willcox and Lake Cochise, part of a huge dry lake bed (playa) that was a large prehistoric lake. Recent E-Bird reports show numerous species I have not seen in years and some I have never seen.  Unfortunately, low water levels allow the the birds to stay far from the viewing road, making it impossible to photograph or even identify some of the smaller birds.  Still, it was a fun time with a number of birds I don't see often.

Sandhill cranes numbered in the hundreds, but other ponds in the area undoubtedly had more.  The town usually has upwards of 10,000 cranes each winter, less than half what Whitewater Draw might see.  On this visit, I also checked out a couple ponds adjacent to the town's golf course and found a few species of waterfowl that were a little closer than on the larger lake.










Northern Shoveler (F)

Northern Shoveler (M)

Snow Geese

American Avocet

Loggerhead Shrike

Vespers Sparrow

Northern Mockingbird

House Finches

House Finches

Chihuahuan Meadowlark

American Coot

American Wigeon (M)

American Wigeon (M)

American Wigeon (F)

Killdeer


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