Sonoran Audubon and Birders Anonymous members teamed up to bird the stretch of the Hassayampa River near Box Canyon, north of Wickenburg. About a dozen people braved the temperatures to scout a mile's worth of river valley for warblers and other fall migrants. Co-leaders, Ann McDermott from Sonoran Audubon, and Donna Smith of Birders Anonymous called the trip at 10:45 AM due to some folks' heat-induced red faces, and for others who needed to be back in Phoenix by noon.

Birding the parking lot briefly at the Wickenburg Community Center gave us a Summer Tanager, a Gila Woodpecker, Great-tailed Grackles and Rock Doves.

The canyon walk delivered up another Summer Tanager of a very unique peachy complexion, Gila Woodpeckers, Lesser Goldfinches, Rock Wrens, Cactus Wrens and Canyon Wrens, Abert's Towhee, Mourning Doves, House Finch, Verdins, a distant Red-tailed Hawk, a bathing Cooper's Hawk, two Common Ravens, a number of Turkey Vultures, several Scrub Jays, a Black Phoebe and a heard-but-not-seen Anna's Hummingbird. We had serenades from the ravens and the Canon Wren. Always a pleasure to hear the Canyon Wren.

I was most disappointed that the warblers, flycatcher, Western Tanager and House Wren of the week before, when I scouted out the area, were no-shows. Nevertheless, we had many more raptors appear for our joint Audubon/Anonymous jaunt. I had none at all the week prior.

The river did not flow anywhere close to the Box, for those who know the region. It sank underground very close to where the road goes down into the canyon. Upstream we had the opportunity to get our feet wet and see more birds. There too, we found a USGS employee taking water flow samples and doing water quality tests. Now you don¹t see one of THOSE every day.

Three of us closed out the event by having lunch together at Anita's Mexican Restaurant afterwards. Another member with a son who works in Wickenburg had lunch with his son at an undisclosed location. He said they'd be going to Anita's too, but they never showed while I was there.

Despite the heat and lack of birds located, we all had a pleasant morning in the wilds of the scenic Sonoran Desert.