Photo by Maryann Hovan

A joint Birders’ Anonymous and Sonoran Audubon Society “Get-Away” trip to Flagstaff took place July 10-12, 2003. 17 people took part in order to bird, sightsee, eat good food, socialize and just get away from the Phoenix heat for a few days. Little did they know that Flagstaff would set records for high temperatures (lower 90s) during this period? Still fun was had by all the attendees who were Eleanor Campbell (Trip Leader who did a fantastic job putting all of it together), Betty Baugus, Dan & Wilma Bohlmann, Edwina Crosby, Marjorie Eckman (no relation to Marge Eckman of Birders’ Anonymous), Steve & Maryann Hovan, Chuck & Phyllis Kangas, Pat Kifer, Vera Markham, Ann McDermott, Nancy Reed, Chuck Richard and George & Maria Wall.

We all met at noon for lunch just outside Flagstaff at Robinson Park and Maryann Hoven showed us some pictures of elk that she had just taken. After lunch, we birded the Kachina Wetlands, Toho Birding Trail and then the major-ity traveled to Nancy Reed’s house for a cool drink and watch the birds from her back porch feeding from the many feeders in her back yard. Here we watched the White-breasted Nuthatch, Pygmy Nuthatch and Red-breasted Nuthatch flitting in the trees as well as others. What a treat!! That night, 10 of the group dined at the Mountain Oasis restaurant in downtown Flagstaff.

On Friday, we birded several places. At the first scheduled stop, we observed just a few birds before being chased out by hundreds of bees that were very bothersome and even stung a couple of us. There we saw numerous Red-breasted Nuthatches. We left there to bird Hart Prairie Rd, Kendrick Park Watchable Wildlife Trail and then the majority went to the Northern Arizona Museum and walked the nature trail. The highlight of the day was seeing several Red Crossbills high in the trees on the Snowbowl Road.

On Saturday morning at 7:30am, we met at the Flagstaff Arboretum where we enjoyed a great bird walk with Frank Brandt leading us. The highlight was seeing the Virginia’s Warbler that was a life bird for several of us. There were also nesting Cordilleran Flycatchers with young that had just fledged. Most of us then caravanned to the Walnut Canyon National Monument. Not too many birds were seen here, but we all enjoyed walking the trails and seeing the Sinagua Indian cliff dwellings that were very numerous around the sides of the canyon.