"We were fortunate to have a bright blue sky since the day before the sun never shone and theafternoon of the trip the weather turned cold and windy. We started up the popular Waterfall Trail at this regional park west of Phoenix hoping that the good rainfall from the previous week would produce some water over the falls and pools to attract birds. Let's just say that the roar of water over the falls was not exactly deafening!

Since folks coming back were reporting only a trickle of water, we decided it was not worthscrambling over boulders to see it. We did see a few birds migrating through (like us) looking for water: Spotted Towhee, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Lesser Goldfinch, and a spectacular Cassin's Finch. Three loud Scrub Jays appeared which I have never seen here before in 25 years of camping and hiking," said leader Dan Bohlmann describing the trip. Many of the participants had never before explored the nearby site with its obvious petroglyphs.

The group moved to another location---the Ford Canyon/Ironwood Loop Trail climbing in and out of a 40 foot deep wash and hiking more than a mile in lush desert where they saw many typical Sonoran Desert birds. Birds seen in addition to those mentioned were: Cactus Wren, Curve-billed Thrasher, House Finch, Gila Woodpecker, Verdin, Gilded Flicker, Abert's Towhee, Blue-grey Gnatcatcher, Black-tailed Gnatcatcher, Red-tailed Hawk, Black-throated Sparrow, Turkey Vulture, Rock Wren, Phainopepla, White-crowned Sparrow, Common Raven, and Northern Mockingbird.

Participants were: Joyce Keller, Bob McCall, Kris and Richard Coates, Darnell Kirksey, Kira Kremer, Loretta and Chuck Richards, Phil Evanstock, Renee Chipules, Doris VanZant, Steve Hovan, Eleanor Campbell and Chuck Richard.