Pintail Lake Wetlands

Author's Comments

The first time I drove out to Pintail, I almost did not stop. There is no grand sign, no welcome center, no suggestion that what waits at the end of that short trail off Pintail Lane is worth the detour. That is part of why I keep going back. The wetland is shallow and quiet and unremarkable in the way that the best places often are. In summer, before the sun is fully up, mist lifts off the water in long horizontal layers and the whole basin softens into something that does not look like Arizona at all. The pintails and teal move through it in silhouette. A heron will stand in the shallows for an hour without seeming to breathe. I have watched a harrier work the marsh edge in light so low it barely registered on the meter, and I have come away with frames I still think about. This is not a place that gives up its photographs quickly. The compositions are subtle - a band of fog, a line of cattails, a bird small in a wide frame. A long lens will get you the wildlife, but I would argue the real picture here is the landscape one, made when the mist is doing its work and the sun is still a rumor behind the pines. Come early. Come in summer when the monsoon has loaded the air with moisture and the mornings cooperate. You will likely have the place to yourself, and that is the other gift Pintail offers, quieter than the photographs but harder to find anywhere else.

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