Hassaympa River

It was a beautiful brisk cool morning when eight of us met at the Hassayampa River Preserve in Wickenburg. We watched the Anna’s and Costa’s Hummingbirds mob the three feeders outside the office before we headed out.

We first circled the pond where we saw several ducks including beautiful Green-winged Teal. From there we walked the River Ramble trail that produced several of the common birds as well as chasing up a lot of butterflies. We then went down the Meander Trail where we got a good look at a Wilson’s Warbler.

We got back to the office and posted a few new birds in the book and then headed to the cars to leave. Lo’ and behold, a beautiful male Vermilion Flycatcher appeared near the parking lot for all of us to see.

We decided to pull into the rest stop just down the road for a last look for birds and it proved fruitful. We picked up three more birds including a Plumbeous Vireo.

Here are the 35 species we saw or heard: Great Egret, Green-winged Teal, Ring-necked Duck, Common Merganser, Mallard, Turkey Vulture, Cooper’s Hawk, Red-tailed Hawk, Gambel’s Quail, American Coot, Mourning Dove, Anna’s Hummingbird, Costa’s Hummingbird, Gila Woodpecker, Ladder-backed Woodpecker, Northern Flicker (h), Black Phoebe, Vermilion Flycatcher, Ash-throated Flycatcher, Northern Mockingbird, House Sparrow, Bell’s Vireo (h), Plumbeous Vireo, House Finch, Lesser Goldfinch, Yellow Warbler, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Common Yellowthroat (h), Wilson’s Warbler, Abert’s Towhee, Song Sparrow, White-crowned Sparrow, Northern Cardinal, Red-winged Blackbird and Brown-headed Cowbird (h).

The participants were Dan Bohlmann, Judith Burke, Jan Harding, Gerry Horton, Cheri Laude, Vera Markham, Richard Theobald and George Wall (leader).