This was a joint field trip for the Sonoran Audubon and Maricopa Audubon Societies to several areas including the Sierra Anchas Mountains. It was led by Troy Corman and the attendees were Rich Kaiser, Nancy and Silvio London who met us at the Roosevelt Lake area where they were camping, Dean and Linda Mason, George Wall and Daniela Yellan.

It was amazing to see the amount of water just prior to Roosevelt Lake coming from the Tonto Creek area. For example, I was at the Orange Peel area near the lake seven months ago. At that time, there were mesquite trees, cottonwoods 20 feet high and everything was dry as a bone. All of that is now completely under water including all the trees. The lake was 15% full and it’s now 95%. Boaters can now go into areas never before explored.

It was here we stopped and really had a treat. We saw Western Grebes doing their courtship dance not once, but several times. There were American Coots and Pied-billed Grebes getting on and off their nests. We traveled on down the road a bit stopping at Bachelor’s Cove and then the Roosevelt Lake Visitors Center.

At these spots, we saw Western Grebe, a large flock of American White Pelicans that flew over our heads, Cliff Swallow, Common Raven, Verdin, Cactus Wren, Rock Wren, Black-tailed Gnatcatcher, Northern Cardinal, Brown-headed Cowbird and House Sparrow.

We then left Rt 88 and took Rt 288 toward Young into the Sierra Anchas Mountains. We stopped at the Salt River Bridge and another little rural spot up the road a ways. At these spots we saw a Common Merganser, Eurasian Collared Dove, Inca Dove, White-throated Swift, a Raven feeding 3 young in a nest, and a Northern Mockingbird.

Other species seen were the Double-crested Cormorant, Great Blue Heron, Snowy Egret, Black-crowned Night Heron, Gadwall, Mallard, Cinnamon Teal, Ruddy Duck, Bald Eagle, Red-tailed Hawk, Mourning Dove, Ladder-backed Woodpecker, Vermilion Flycatcher, Northern Rough-winged Swallow, Black-tailed Gnatcatcher, Curve-billed Thrasher, Phainopepla, Lucy’s Warbler, Abert’s Towhee, Black-throated Sparrow, Song Sparrow, Red-winged Blackbird and Great-tailed Grackle.

We were now driving on a dirt road (still Rt 288) and we would be on dirt from here on until we headed back the next day. By this time we were ready for lunch; so we pulled off onto a small dirt road and drove down into a nice shady area where a stand of nice trees stood along with a small trickle of water on the side of the road. As we ate lunch, we observed a Turkey Vulture flying in the distance, Mourning Dove, Whitewinged Dove, Say’s Phoebe, Cassin’s Kingbird, Bell’s Vireo, Lucy’s Warbler, Yellow Warbler, Yellowbreasted Chat, Green-tailed Towhee, Hooded Oriole, Lesser Goldfinch and American Goldfinch.

Our next stop was at Parker Creek Rim that gave us a beautiful view of the valley and Lake Roosevelt miles away. The cliffs faces were jagged and awe inspiring. While looking at this beauty, we saw a Great Roadrunner, a pair of White-throated Swifts mate while flying, Western Kingbird, Common Raven, Rock Wren, Canyon Wren, Canyon Towhee and a Scott’s Oriole.

We then went down into a valley to Parker Creek. Here we saw a Turkey Vulture, Band-tailed Pigeon, Broad-tailed Hummingbird, Hairy Woodpecker, Northern Flicker, Olive-sided Flycatcher, Plumbeous Vireo, Hutton’s Vireo, Warbling Vireo, Mexican Jay, Bridled Titmouse, Bushtit, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Bewick’s Wren, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Orange-crowned Warbler, Virginia’s Warbler, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Black-throated Gray Warbler, Grace’s Warbler, Red-faced Warbler, Painted Redstart, Western Tanager, Spotted Towhee and a Black-headed Grosbeak. It was here that the London's left us to return home as they already had a night of camping out.

We drove some more and stopped alongside the road by some chaparral and observed a Black-chinned Hummingbird, Western Scrub-Jay, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Spotted Towhee and heard the Black-chinned Sparrow.

We then made our way to Reynolds Creek and parked where we were going to set up camp, but first we had to bird a little bit; however the birds had retired although we heard a Whip-poor-will calling and a Hermit Thrush singing. We pitched our tents and they all laughed at my tent that was only 30” high and less than 6 foot long. Troy Corman did himself proud by getting the campfire going. We got our chairs and had our supper. We then went out to do some owling as a Flammulated Owl was calling. Troy was able to bring it in to only a few feet of us and we all got a good close up look at this little beauty of the night. We walked down the road some more but couldn’t call in any more owls. We then headed back with Troy, Daniela and I leading the way with the other three lagging behind. Much to our embarrassment, the three of us missed our camp and walked down the road another quarter of a mile before realizing our mistake. We were all pretty tired by the time we got into our tents. It was then I realized that the tent was too small for my 6’2” frame. I spent a miserable night cramped up, tossing and turning while trying to stay warm as the temperature dropped to 39 degrees. Everyone else was snug as a bug.

The next morning after breakfast and putting away our camp, we did some serious birding at the Reynolds Creek and Workman’s Creek areas. We saw a pair of Cooper’s Hawks up close, Band-tailed Pigeon, Northern Pygmy-Owl calling, Broad-tailed Hummingbird, Acorn Woodpecker, Downy Woodpecker, Hairy Woodpecker, Northern Flicker, Plumbeous Vireo, Steller’s Jay, Mountain Chickadee (H), White-breasted Nuthatch, Brown Creeper, House Wren, Hermit Thrush, American Robin, Virginia’s Warbler, Grace’s Warbler, Red-faced Warbler, Painted Redstart, Western Tanager and Black-headed Grosbeak.

After lunch, it was time to work our way back down out of the mountains. We made a couple of more stops. One at a plateau area where there was a Gray Vireo, Northern Mockingbird, Crissal Thrasher, Virginia’s Warbler, Canyon Towhee and Brewer’s Sparrow. The other stop was at the chaparral area again, but the wind had picked up and all we saw was the Blue-gray Gnatcatcher.

On our way to our last stop, we saw some Rock Pigeons to add to our list. And at our last stop which was Oak Flats, we saw a Gray Flycatcher, Brown-crested Flycatcher and lots of Lark Sparrows.

During this trip, 117 different species were seen and 3 were heard for a total of 120. I know there were probably more of the same sighted species at some of the spots, but I tried to keep up as best as I could. Here is the complete list:

Pied-billed Grebe, Western Grebe, American White Pelican, Double-crested Cormorant, Great Blue Heron, Snowy Egret, Black-crowned Night Heron, Turkey Vulture, Gadwall, Mallard, Cinnamon Teal, Common Merganser, Ruddy Duck, Bald Eagle, Cooper’s Hawk, Common Black Hawk, Harris’s Hawk, Zone-tailed Hawk, Red-tailed Hawk, American Kestrel, Gambel’s Quail, American Coot, Rock Pigeon, Band-tailed Pigeon, Eurasian Collared-Dove, White-winged Dove, Mourning Dove, Inca Dove, Greater Roadrunner, Flammulated Owl, Northern Pygmy Owl (H), Whip-poor-will (H), White-throated Swift, Black-chinned Hummingbird, Anna’s Hummingbird, Costa’s Hummingbird, Broad-tailed Hummingbird, Acorn Woodpecker, Gila Woodpecker, Ladder-backed Woodpecker, Downy Woodpecker, Hairy Woodpecker, Northern Flicker, Olive-sided Flycatcher, Western Wood-Pewee, Gray Flycatcher, Black Phoebe, Say’s Phoebe, Vermilion Flycatcher, Ash-throated Flycatcher, Brown-crested Flycatcher, Cassin’s Kingbird, Western Kingbird, Bell’s Vireo, Gray Vireo, Plumbeous Vireo, Hutton’s Vireo, Warbling Vireo, Steller’s Jay, Western Scrub-Jay, Mexican Jay, Common Raven, Violet-green Swallow, Northern Rough-winged Swallow, Cliff Swallow, Mountain Chickadee (H), Bridled Titmouse, Verdin, Bushtit, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Whitebreasted Nuthatch, Cactus Wren, Rock Wren, Canyon Wren, Bewick’s Wren, House Wren, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Black-tailed Gnatcatcher, Hermit Thrush, American Robin, Northern Mockingbird, Curvebilled Thrasher, Crissal Thrasher, European Starling, Cedar Waxwing, Phainopepla, Orange-crowned Warbler, Virginia’s Warbler, Lucy’s Warbler, Yellow Warbler, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Black-throated Gray Warbler, Grace’s Warbler, Red-faced Warbler, Painted Redstart, Yellow-breasted Chat, Summer Tanager, Western Tanager, Green-tailed Towhee, Spotted Towhee, Canyon Towhee, Abert’s Towhee, Rufouscrowned Sparrow, Brewer’s Sparrow, Lark Sparrow, Black-throated Sparrow, Song Sparrow, Northern Cardinal, Black-headed Grosbeak, Red-winged Blackbird, Great-tailed Grackle, Brown-headed Cowbird, Hooded Oriole, Bullock’s Oriole, Scott’s Oriole, House Finch, Lesser Goldfinch, American Goldfinch and House Sparrow.