Sweetwater Wetlands - Part 2

12/17/21 - 02/20/22

I visited Sweetwater about once a week during my stay in Tucson. Unfortunately, the wildlife activity was down significantly from previous years. I believe there to be two major reasons for the decline.

First, they did a controlled burn in November. But, from what I was told, it burned hotter and covered more area than they intended. So, even now in February, much of the vegetation has not grown back. The timing was also different than normal. They typically do the burn in March. So the vegetation has plenty of time to grow back by the time I arrive in December.

Second, they are in a bit of a drought here and the water levels were really low. Many of the ponds had little or no water.

Despite the decline, I was usually able to find some wildlife to photograph on each of my visits. This is part two of two parts of the photographs I took this winter at tthe wetlands.

Steve Winker