November 23 – Bird Trip at Arrowhead Ponds and T-Bird Park
Arrowhead Ponds & T-Bird Park
Tuesday, November 23, 2021
Leader: Dan Bohlmann
This is a trip to several ponds and lakes of the Arrowhead community of the Northwest Valley. We will meet at the bridge on Melinda Drive which is the last light before 59th Avenue begins to curve into Thunderbird Park. Turn right on Melinda and go several blocks to the east to the bridge which has lakes on both sides. Usually there are always Black-crowned Night Herons in the trees on the north side of the bridge, various types of ducks, Snowy Egrets, Green Herons, Great Blue
Herons and a long time resident Black Phoebe. The usual neighborhood birds are there also – Mockingbirds, Abert’s Towhees, House Finches, etc. Then we will move on to the Bird Blind at 59th and Melinda. For years a flock of 200 to 300 Common Mergansers came to this lake every year. On the last visit 2 years ago they let us down and didn’t show up. So here’s hoping they will this year. Usually there are a
good variety of other ducks such as Ruddys, Gadwalls, Wigeons, Shovelers, Ring-necks, Scaups and Teals. The Paloverde trees at the Blind always seem to be active with Warblers, Verdins and Anna’s and Costa’s Hummingbirds.
We will then head over to Thunderbird Park to see if we can pick up some typical desert birds like the Cardinal, Curve-billed Thrasher, Cactus Wren, Loggerhead Shrike, Gnatcatcher and Black-throated Sparrow. Then we will head for the really large lakes on the west side of 67th ave. On the way we will pass the stream that runs between lakes and was the location where we found several rare ducks several years ago – an Eurasion Wigeon and a Hooded Merganser. The large lakes gives us a chance to see any of the ducks that we have not seen as yet. There usually are Great Egrets and a few shore birds and even Ring-billed Sea Gulls.
This will be a trip that will last until around noon. We will meet at the bridge on Melinda at 8:00am. Be sure to email or call me if you are planning on coming.
Please be reminded of COVID protocol from the US CDC as SAS will be observing these measures: go to the latest guidance for personal vehicles at https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/daily-life-coping/using-transportation.html#PersonalVehicles. Generally said, on SAS in-person Field Trips, share rides with your family and/or others who have been fully vaccinated. For those who are not fully vaccinated, for everyone’s comfort, drive yourself; if not fully vaccinated but are car-pooling, mask up and maintain social distancing. For the un-vaccinated, the CDC says “get vaccinated”; for those in between 2-shot vaccination protocols and therefore not fully immunized, continue to mask up for these SAS Field Trips. And, for all of us, make sure your vehicle has good ventilation.
