It was a beautiful morning as I, Dick Fogle, led 7 other birders (Bob Cirillo, Marshall Esty, Shirley Fackleman, Ian Jeffrey, Marcia Johnson and Donna Smith) on a trip to Estrella Mountain Park. Along the way, we stopped at a pond on Litchfield Road where we observed several waterfowl in the early morning hour. We then went on to the park where we rendezvoused with Marilyn McMahon to make our eight. At the same time, we ran into a Maricopa Audubon Society field trip to the same spot, but we didn’t bird together.

One of the spectacular sights of the morning was 3 flocks of White-faced Ibis totaling about 500 birds.

After birding Estrella Mountain Park, we then went to the P.I.R. area where most of the ducks and water birds were seen.

Here is the list of 61 species that were noted: Pied-billed Grebe, Canada Goose, Double-crested Cormorant, Neotropic Cormorant, Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Green Heron, Black-crowned Night Heron, White-faced Ibis, Turkey Vulture, Green-winged Teal, Mallard, Blue-winged Teal, Cinnamon Teal Northern Shoveler, Canvasback, Ring-necked Duck, Ruddy Duck, Osprey, Cooper’s Hawk, Red-tailed Hawk, American Kestrel, Prairie Falcon, Gambel’s Quail, Common Moorhen, American Coot, Killdeer, Black-necked Stilt, Western Sandpiper, Ring-billed Gull, Rock Pigeon, Mourning Dove, Greater Roadrunner, Anna’s Hummingbird, Costa’s Hummingbird, Gila Woodpecker, Ladder-back Woodpecker, Black Phoebe, Say’s Phoebe, Loggerhead Shrike, Common Raven, Violet-green Swallow, Northern Rough-winged Swallow, Bushtit, Rock Wren, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Northern Mockingbird, Phainopepla, Ash-throated Flycatcher, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Northern Cardinal, Abert’s Towhee, Lark Sparrow, White-crowned Sparrow, Dark-eyed Junco, Western Meadowlark, Great-tailed Grackle and House Finch.