When we arrived northwest of Prescott at the Granite Basin Picnic area we knew the minute we got out of the car that it was going to be a great day for birding, since there were birds singing everywhere. We identified a new bird every minute for about twenty minutes before we decided to see if we could find the Granite Basin Lake.

Just before we left we spotted a Raven above us that was being dive bombed by a Cooper’s Hawk. As we watched every maneuver that the Raven was doing, the Cooper’s was duplicating and it appeared that the Cooper’s was attached to the Raven’s tail feathers. We watched for quite some time to see if any Raven tail feathers would come floating down.

We jumped back into the car and followed a road leading deeper into the area under the jumble of rocks referred to as Granite Mountain. The lake was lined with cattails and lots of trees and a few ducks here and there. We hiked around the lake and took a lot of pictures with Granite Mountain in the background and the lake in the foreground. It was a very beautiful spot that was tranquil and peaceful since it was a Thursday and not a Saturday. Only the sounds of bird song and ducks quacking could be heard.

We decided to head over to Watson Lake to see what ducks and other birds were hanging out there. We hiked about a mile to get good looks across the lake with Tom’s scope and picked up about 15 more species giving us a total of 41.

Location and Species:

Prescott Valley – Rock Dove and Raven

Granite Basin Picnic Area - Acorn Woodpecker, Lesser Goldfinch, Gila Woodpecker, House Finch, Steller’s Jay, Oregon Junco, Chipping Sparrow, White-breasted Nuthatch, Northern Flicker, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Western Bluebird, Bridled Titmouse, Mountain Chickadee, Red-backed Junco, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Cooper’s Hawk.

Granite Basin Lake – Mallard, American Wigeon, American Coot, Ring-necked Duck, Red-winged Blackbird, Hairy Woodpecker.

Watson Lake – Rock Wren, White-crowned Sparrow, Pine Siskin, Belted Kingfisher, Great Blue Heron, Canada Goose, Black Phoebe, Pied-billed Grebe, White Domestic Duck, Northern Pintail, Gadwall, Killdeer, Double-crested Cormorant, Green-winged Teal, Blue-winged Teal, Long-billed Dowitcher and Sharp-shinned Hawk.

Attendees: Joe Ford, Fran Baughman, Vera Markham, Tom Lazzell.