Common Black Hawks circled and swooped above Lower Oak Creek Important Bird Area near Cornville giving everyone on the field trip a good, long look. The designated IBA includes Page Springs Fish Hatchery where a Hermit Thrush in breeding plumage scurried below the group providing an excellent view of its field marks. Song Sparrows, Black Phoebe, Lincoln Sparrow, Spotted Towhee and Abert's Towhee were
busy there, too. 

Western Kingbirds were in residence at the Bubbling Ponds area where an Osprey was hungrily viewing the fish ponds from a snag. Bewick's Wren and Lucy's Warbler sang throughout the morning. The cottonwoods, willows, the creek, ponds and dried up marsh at the site offer a variety of habitats to suit many species, however the count reached only 39. 

Birds seen and heard were: Turkey Vulture, Cinnamon Teal, Mallard, Ring-necked Duck, Lesser Scaup, Common Merganser, Common Black Hawk, Red-tailed Hawk, Osprey, American Kestrel, American Coot, Rock Pigeon, Mourning Dove, Inca Dove, Belted Kingfisher, Gila Woodpecker, Ladder-backed Woodpecker, Northern Flicker, Cordilleran Flycatcher, Black Phoebe, Say's Phoebe, Western Kingbird, Bewick's
Wren, Townsend's Solitaire, Hermit Thrush, American Robin, European Starling, Orange-crowned Warbler, Lucy's Warbler, Yellow Warbler, Black-throated Gray Warbler, Spotted Towhee, Abert's Towhee, Dark-eyed Junco, Northern Cardinal, Red-winged Blackbird, House Finch, Lesser Goldfinch, House Sparrow. 

Participants were: Andrea Nesbitt, Harvey Beatty, Marjorie Eckman, Chuck Kangas, Loretta and Chuck Richards, Liz Ross-Kinninger, Dan Kinninger, Chuck Richard, Eleanor Campbell, leader, and Jed Fulkerson, Ted Fritzinger and Ellie Szabo who live near the IBA.