Sweetwater Wetlands

Nestled behind some industrial buildings north of downtown Tucson near the interstate freeway is this little area called Sweetwater wetlands.  The Sweetwater Wetlands is a water treatment facility, an urban wildlife habitat, and an outdoor classroom.  Amazing place.


We drove over from the Ananda Tucson center as it is only about 5-10 minutes.  Well, actually took us 25 minutes because the normal route is torn up for some construction.  I mean, who has heard of freeway construction in the middle of winter?  Oh, yes, this is Tucson, where the temp reached 74 degrees today.  Ok, no more rubbing it in for you "northerners".

taking flight

With the din of the freeway in the background, we walked around this tranquil park looking for birds.  From a bird photographer viewpoint it was late in the day and most of the bird sightings were shadowed and dark but Sraddha saw quite a few species.  this little duck fella posed for me in a small spot of sunlight the took flight.  I was using a rented 300mm telephoto lens with a 1.4x extender and trying to figure out how to use it.  think the photo turned out okay but not quite as sharp as I would have preferred.

Bobcat new Sweetwater wetlands

We walked around the perimeter of this pond which was a good 3/4 mile and there were 2 ponds like it.  You will see below the sunset photos to get an idea of the wonderful foliage.  
On the south side of the pond are 3 other rainwater fairly empty holding overflow ponds  overflow.  Too far to get any bird photos but I spotted this bobcat looking for dinner.  Nice kitty! Think he walked away hungry.  


As dusk approached, I left the kitty and raced around to the north side of the pond to catch sunset.  think the 3 photos below turned out pretty nice. Couldn't decide which one to show you so posted them all.  These were done via HDR.  Please tell me which one you like in comments section.

Sweetwater Sunset 1

Sweetwater Sunset 2

Sweetwater Sunset 3