Visit to the Tres Rios Wetlands, December 2012

I made my first visit to the Tres Rios Wetlands. This post has some photographs. I heard about this location from a birder I met at Water Ranch. I did some research on the web, and decided to check it out. It’s in west Phoenix, about a 30 minute drive from where I live. When I got there it was locked up with a ‘No Trespassing’ sign posted. I got out of the car to decide what to do, and immediately saw a Belted Kingfisher and a Green Heron. I’ve been wanting to photograph a Kingfisher since I got my camera, and this seemed like a good opportunity. I looked on my smart phone and found out that there have been changes recently at Tres Rios (why didn’t I see this before I left?). It said I needed a permit to visit on the west side of 91st avenue, and the east side is permanently closed to the public (that’s the side I had directions to!). I called the number on the web for getting a permit, but only got a voice mail. So, I decided to go in without the permit, and ask for forgiveness later if needed, and hope I didn’t get a fine.

There were a couple of very active Kingfishers. They were moving up and down the creek, and vocalizing a lot. I chased them but they never roosted in a spot where I could get a good picture. If I had time I could have waited them out, but I was a little nervous about staying there without the permit. I got some ‘ok’ pictures, and posted three of them.

I’ve been trying to get pictures of birds in flight. It’s challenging to get the focus and exposure right while they are moving. I posted a couple of attempts.

Here are the pictures: