Cibola Wildlife Refuge

We had come to this Colorado River birding area last year and wanted to return as soon as possible. There were more birds this time, maybe because we are a month later than 2012. Cibola is an outstanding place for watching waterfowl on the Arizona and California's border.

There is a wonderful 3 mile auto tour that takes you up close to some of the birds, a great exhibit room and the wildlife hosts are glad to point out what to look for.

I can count 30 or more nests in this tree as we entered the wildlife area. I neglected to find out which type a bird formed the "bird-condo".

We are excited, this is the first time we had seen trumpeter swans in the area. These are big, beautiful birds.

This great hawk still might not be big enough to bother the swans. What kind of hawk is this?

Why he (or she) was the same as this common buzzard..., pretty apparent, red-tail hawk.

There was no shortage of Canadian and snow geese.

There were hundreds, if not thousands of the Canadian geese flying in while we were present. 

The sandhill cranes are cool. They winter in the southwest desert and go back to Canada and Alaska in the summer to breed.

The burrowing owl is one of Donna's favorite. They are very little and the wildlife volunteers build rock and pipe nests to encourage them to breed. We are hoping to see one.

We have found them outside the nests at times but this was the most photographic little hooter of the bunch...how could you not think he is too cute, unless you are a mouse. Ha ha
That's it for the wildlife refuge this 2013. Check back next year for some updates.