Eleven intrepid birders traveled to Puerto Peñasco (Rocky Point), Sonora to look for gull and shorebirds (and anything else that might appear). We had excellent weather except for some breezy conditions on the last morning. The group stayed in the Vina del Mar motel in the old town area of Puerto Peñasco. The motel was decent and clean and close to restaurants and the harbor. For the most part, the food was excellent, particularly the dinners. Development along the ocean front, particularly Sandy Beach has impacted available birding areas, but we still saw some excellent birds that don’t show up inland very often. Conspicuously absent were most land birds, don’t know why. The group did get a lot of practice sorting out the gulls in various plumages. The birders included: Chuck Kangas, Ian Jeffery, Chuck (co-leader) and Loretta Richards, Donna Smith, Barb Meding, Vera Markham, Doris Hill, Betty Roberts and Rich (co-leader) and Carol Schooler.

Forty two (42) species of birds were seen including: Common Loon; Red-necked Grebe; Eared Grebe; Common Goldeneye; Western Grebe; Storm Petrel(sp); Blue-footed Booby; Brown Booby; Brown Pelican; Double-crested Cormorant; Snowy Egret; Black Vulture; Turkey Vulture; Osprey; Northern Harrier; Redtailed Hawk; American Kestrel; Black-bellied Plover; Wilson’s Plover; American Oyster-catcher; Willet; Spotted Sandpiper; Whimbrel; Long-billed Curlew; Marbled Godwit: Heermann’s Gull: Ring-billed Gull; Herring Gull; Yellow-footed Gull; Royal Tern; Rock Pigeon; Mourning Dove; Say’s Phoebe; Loggerhead Shrike; Common Raven; Phainopepla; Yellow-rumped Warbler; White-crowned Sparrow; Western Meadowlark; Great-tailed Grackle; House Finch; House Sparrow.