Flagstaff August 2005

Vera Markham led an early morning group of birders to Tres Rios. The group included Marshall Esty, Cathy Huffman, Frank & Pearl Shewfelt and George Wall. You knew it was going to be a good day when the entire group saw a pair of Harris’s Hawks while in the Sun Bowl parking lot. Vera must have been wearing a lucky charm or something, because the group saw a lot of birds – over 30 before 8am and by the time they left at around 9:30am, 43 species had been spotted or heard.

Most of the birding was done in the Haystack area, but a couple of birds were seen in the Cobblestone area that now has a no trespassing sign posted. We did get permission to bird there, but we didn’t stay long as this was our last stop and the heat was getting to us.

The most prevalent bird seen was the Green Heron (over 20) and the 3 Ospreys and a Sora were also a surprise. Here’s the total list: Double-crested Cormorant, Great Blue Heron, Cattle Egret, Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Green Heron, Black-crowned Night-Heron, Least Bittern, White-faced Ibis, Turkey Vulture, Black Vulture, Mallard, Osprey, Harris’s Hawk, Sora, Common Moorhen, American Coot, Black-necked Stilt, Killdeer, Western Sandpiper, Least Sandpiper, Rock Dove, Mourning Dove, White-winged Dove, Greater Roadrunner (in a tree), Anna’s Hummingbird, Black Phoebe, Western Kingbird, Marsh Wren, Northern Mockingbird, Black-tailed Gnatcatcher, Verdin, European Starling, Song Sparrow (H), Abert’s Towhee, American Yellow Warbler, Common Yellowthroat (H), Lesser Goldfinch, House Finch, House Sparrow, Yellow-headed Blackbird, Red-winged Blackbird and Brown-headed Cowbird.