Crested Caracara
Photo by Greg Lasley

The first Sonoran Audubon Society field trip of the new year took a group of five (Bob Cirillo, Marcia Grina, Carol Sharplin, Donna Smith and Barbara Meding - leader) south to the Santa Cruz Flats. The day was spent driving the “roads” through the many agricultural fields in the area looking for birds. This is an area where a lot of raptors are usually found and we weren't disappointed as we found three Crested Caracara as well as other raptors. We were also surprised to see a group of 28 Mountain Plover.

The 41 species seen were American Wigeon, Redhead, Mallard, Great Blue Heron, Turkey Vulture, Northern Harrier, Red-tailed Hawk, Ferruginous Hawk, Crested Caracara, American Kestrel, Merlin, Prairie Falcon, Killdeer, Mountain Plover, Least Sandpiper, Mourning Dove, Eurasian Collared-Dove, Greater Roadrunner, Northern Flicker, Gila Woodpecker, Loggerhead Shrike, Common Raven, Horned Lark, Say’s Phoebe, Bendire’s Thrasher, European Starling, American Pipit, Verdin, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Canyon Towhee, Lark Sparrow, Sage Sparrow, Song Sparrow, White-crowned Sparrow, Red-winged Blackbird, Western Meadowlark, Brewer’s Blackbird, Great-tailed Grackle, House Finch, Lesser Goldfinch and House Sparrow.