According to the weather report, it was supposed to be a windy day; however, the wind didn’t arrive until after we finished birding. It was a beautiful morning with cool temperatures when the five of us – Dan Bohlmann, Janet Hegenderfor, Cheri Laude, Barbara Meding and George Wall (leader) started out. After spending some time watching mostly Anna’s Hummingbirds at the feeders, we walked down to the picnic area where we were treated with the twilling of Cedar Waxwings up in the palm trees. We then started around the pond where we saw a few ducks, but the surprise was seeing a juvenile Green Heron that we really had to look closely at to identify. Then we saw three adult Green Herons – there must have been a convention. Right after this sighting, we heard the raucous noise of a Belted Kingfisher before we saw him flying across the pond. As we walked around the pond, we heard a lot of birds like the Bell’s Vireo that we just couldn’t see. We did see a pair of Lucy’s Warblers gathering nest material.

At 10 a.m. we took a break before heading down the river trail. It was at this time that Donna Smith arrived.  Donna wanted to go around the lake; so Barbara Meding decided to keep her company.  The river trail wasn’t as productive as it normally is, but we did see a few birds. Here are the 33 birds we saw or heard: Green Heron, Turkey Vulture, Mallard, Cinnamon Teal, Ring-necked Duck, Mourning Dove, Black-chinned Hummingbird, Anna’s Hummingbird, Belted Kingfisher, Gila Woodpecker, Ladder-backed Woodpecker (h), Black Phoebe, unknown species swallow, Cedar Waxwing, Phainopepla, Marsh Wren, American Robin, Verdin (h), Song Sparrow, White-crowned Sparrow, Savannah Sparrow, Vesper Sparrow, Abert’s Towhee, Northern Cardinal, Lucy’s Warbler, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Common Yellowthroat (h), Hutton’s Vireo, Bell’s Vireo (h), Lesser Goldfinch, House Sparrow, Red-winged Blackbird and Great-tailed Grackle.

Donna and Barbara added a few more birds besides the ones we initially saw: White-winged Dove, Vermilion Flycatcher, Yellow Warbler, Ruby-crowned Kinglet and a Canyon Wren (h) which makes the final total 38 different species.