It was a beautiful morning as 8 of us (George Wall – leader, Marshall Esty, Shirley & Marty Fackleman, Barb Meding, Carolyn Modeen and Donna Smith) headed for the Salt River Recreation areas 60 miles away. Our first stop was at Butcher Jones Recreation Area and it was here that we met up with our 9th member of the group Phil Evanstock.

Butcher Jones Recreation Area is a beautiful spot with picnic tables and a nice spur of Saguaro Lake; in fact it almost seems like it’s a small lake itself with a small beach. It was here that we saw our first 25 species. There were quite a few Eared and Western Grebes which was a pleasant surprise. From here we went to Saguaro Lake itself by the restaurant and we picked up 12 more species including a beautiful Vermilion Flycatcher. Our next stop was Coon Bluff where it was kind of disappointing. We saw 12 species here including a little flock of Lark Sparrows. As we were leaving at around 11:30, we ran across the Maricopa Audubon Society field trip having their lunch. We decided to go over to Granite Reef picnic area to have our lunch. One of the first birds we saw here was a Black-tailed Gnatcatcher. We ate our lunch while watching Bewick’s Wrens and other small birds flit around. It was here where a few of us saw a Sora in the reeds. Just as we were ready to leave, we saw a small flock of Inca Dove.

Altogether on this trip to the Salt River and Saguaro Lake area, we saw 58 species. They were Pied-billed Grebe, Eared Grebe, Western Grebe, Great Blue Heron, Turkey Vulture, Ruddy Duck, Gadwall, Mallard, Cinnamon Teal, Northern Shoveler, Redhead, Ring-necked Duck, Lesser Scaup, Bufflehead, Cooper’s Hawk, Red-tailed Hawk, Gambel’s Quail, Sora, Common Moorhen, American Coot, Killdeer, (?)Yellowlegs, Western Sandpiper, Mourning Dove, Inca Dove, Gila Woodpecker, Northern Flicker, Gray Flycatcher, Black Phoebe, Say’s Phoebe, Vermilion Flycatcher, Violet-Green Swallow, Northern Rough-winged Swallow, Phainopepla, Cactus Wren, American Rock Wren, Bewick’s Wren, House Wren, Northern Mockingbird (H), Curve-billed Thrasher, Black-tailed Gnatcatcher, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Verdin, Common Raven, Song Sparrow, White-crowned Sparrow, Lark Sparrow, Black-throated Sparrow, Abert’s Towhee, Green-tailed Towhee, Northern Cardinal, Lucy’s Warbler, Yellow-rumped Warbler, House Finch, House Sparrow, Red-winged Blackbird and Great-tailed Grackle.

It was a wonderful day enjoyed by all.

Photo by George Wall