Margaret Little, Marilyn McMahon, Ian Jeffery, Melanie Herring, Gary Sawyer, Steve Martin, Vera Markham, Marcia Johnson, Clara Mae Ryder, Carolyn Modeen, Bob Cirillo, Marilyn and Rex Dohman, Trevor Humans, Ranger Patricia Armstrong and Donna Smith, leader, braved the morning cold for this birding trip.

White caps on the pond?  You bet ya!  It was a cold, windy and cloudy day at Estrella Mountain Park when Ranger Patricia Armstrong took us on our bird hike.  Once we got to the river, we were at least protected from the wind.  Kingfishers were out in force flying up and down the river which was a good start.

After birding the river and park, we drove to Estrella Mountain Ranch and that is where we encountered our white capped pond.  It was cccold!  We did not find the Cackling Goose which was our target bird, but saw a Lark Bunting.

Here is the total list of 43 species that we saw or heard:  Gadwall, American Wigeon, Mallard, Cinnamon Teal, Ring-necked Duck, Lesser Scaup, Pied-billed Grebe, Double-crested Cormorant, Snowy Egret, Great Blue Heron, Green Heron, Osprey, Northern Harrier, Red-tailed Hawk, American Kestrel, Common Moorhen, American coot, unknown Yellow-legs (H), Killdeer, Gambel's Quail, Rock Pigeon, Mourning Dove, Belted Kingfisher, Anna's Hummingbird, Costa's Hummingbird, Gila Woodpecker, Northern Flicker, Say's Phoebe, Rock Wren, Canyon Wren, Marsh Wren, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Blue-gray Gnatcathcher, European Starling, Yellow-rumped Warbler (Audubon's), Common Yellowthroat, Verdin, Abert's Towhee, Lark Bunting, White-crowned Sparrow, Dark-eyed Junco, Great-tailed Grackle and House Sparrow.