Winter at the Bubbling Ponds in Page Springs has been excellent for raptors and waterfowl. On Monday, January 8, I spotted a large bird whose characteristic flight pattern could only be that of a Turkey Vulture or a Zone-tailed Hawk to to the back and forth tipping motion. It flew over several times and displayed the long banded tail and feathered head of the Zone-tail! A lone Common Black-Hawk was also present in his usual location in the dead branches in the tall trees overlooking the ponds filled with fish. Osprey are daily visitors, a banded juvenile Bald Eagle, Cooper’s Hawks and Peregrines are relatively common visitors.
Waterfowl numbers have been great, providing close looks of wood ducks, hooded mergansers, scaup, pintail, ring necks, wigeons, gadwall, ruddies, teal, shovelers and of course mallards. Its a phoebe paradise with insects and perches galore. Winter visitors also include american pippits, red-naped sapsucker, white-crowned sparrow and orange-crowned warbler.
