We had a great day at Gilbert Water Ranch as the weather was beautiful and the birds were cooperative. We had two target birds – the Cave Swallow and the Northern Parula. We were lucky to meet up with Frank Insana and his father Sam and they joined us for a while. Frank spotted the Cave Swallow flying overhead for us and we all got a good look at it. We found the Northern Parula Warbler showing off his bright spring colors for us and being very conspicuous in his tree. Everyone with a camera got excellent pictures of him.

The 56 species we saw were Pied-billed Grebe, Double-breasted Cormorant, Neotropic Cormorant, Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Green Heron, Black-crowned, Night-Heron, Mute Swan, Canada Goose, Green-winged Teal, Mallard, Northern Pintail, Cinnamon Teal, Northern Shoveler, Ring-necked Duck, Lesser Scaup, Turkey Vulture, Osprey, Gambel’s Quail, American Coot, Black-necked Stilt, American Avocet, Killdeer, Long-billed Dowitcher, Greater Yellowlegs, Lesser Yellowlegs, Spotted Sandpiper, Western Sandpiper, Least Sandpiper, Mourning Dove, Rosy-faced Lovebird, Anna’s Hummingbird, Black Phoebe, Violet-green Swallow, Northern Rough-winged Swallow, Cliff Swallow, Cave Swallow, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Northern Mockingbird, Curvebilled Thrasher, Verdin, House Sparrow, House Finch, Orange-crowned Warbler, Northern Parula Warbler, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Spotted Towhee. Abert’s Towhee, Song Sparrow, White-crowned Sparrow, Northern Cardinal, Red-winged Blackbird, Greattailed Grackle and Brown-headed Cowbird.

The birders were George Wall, Carol Sharplin. Joy Dolhanczyk, Dean Luehrs, Vera Markham, Cheri Laude, Ian Jeffery and Donna Smith.