Ladder-backed Woodpeckers
Photo by Earle Robinson

It was a beautiful day to be at the arboretum. The weather was great and the fall colors were delightful. The birding was slow at first but it picked up as the morning progressed. We had hoped to get to the arboretum in time to join the Saturday birding group sponsored by the arboretum, but we were a little late and missed them. But later in the morning we did hookup with them (all of three led by Melody of “So many birds, so little time”). They were in the eucalyptus grove when we met and were on to at least a half dozen species at one time.

Melody and a friend were going on to another site and we joined them. The site was the Oak Flat Campground in the Tonto Forest about four miles East of Superior. We had lunch there and birded for an hour. This was a nice area and yielded up a Crissal Thrasher and a Lewis Woodpecker as well as other birds. Melody got a glimpse of a Harris Sparrow, but it ducked out of sight before any of us could get a look. All and all, a really nice day with really nice people.

Birds we saw: Pied-billed Grebe, Red-tailed Hawk, American Coot, Morning Dove, Anna’s Hummingbird, Costa’s Hummingbird, Lewis’s Woodpecker, Gila Woodpecker, Red-naped Sapsucker, Ladder-backed Woodpecker, Red-shafted Flicker, Plumbeous Vireo, Hutton’s Vireo, Western-Scrub Jay, Rock Wren, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Northern Mockingbird, Curved-billed Thrasher, Crissal Thrasher, Phainopepla, Yellow-rumped “Audobon’s” Warbler, Spotted Towhee, Abert’s Towhee, Whitecrowned Sparrow, Dark-eyed Junco, Northern Cardinal, Red-winged Blackbird, Lesser Goldfinch.

Birders were: Darrell and Carolyn Lewis, Kris Coates, Judith Burke, Marilyn McMahon and Chuck and Loretta Richards