Birds at Spur Cross Ranch Conservation Area

While ambitions of photographing a snowy landscape recently led me to Spur Cross Ranch Conservation area, capturing images of the desert park's many birds might have filled just as much time on my recent visit.

I saw many year-round residents like black-throated sparrows, cactus wrens, Abert's towhees, northern cardinals, curved-bill thrashers, house finches, verdins, black-throated sparrows, Gambel's quails and red-tailed hawks. But a few winter visitors were there also, including flocks of western bluebirds, American robins and other sparrows like the white-crowned.

On this clear, freezing morning very few people were hiking the park's many meandering trails. These pathways cut through dense forests of mesquite trees, crossed a fast-moving Cave Creek and scaled saguaro cacti-filled canyons, all empty of animal life except for the birds that don't need any trails to thrive in the lush desert environment.