Heading Back

I drove back to Flagstaff on Monday September 20th making several stops along the way. Things started badly - I could not find any access to the Santa Cruz River ay Ina Road where 6 Blue-winged Teal ad been seen the day before; and I could not find the park-and-ride lot which supposedly allowed views of a pond which had Wood Ducks. My final stop in Tucson went better and I found the three Greater White-fronted Geese on the Arthur Pack Golf Course.

After stopping at Lee Lee Market, my next stop was by the Mesa Library on Dobson Road. The target bird was Hooded Merganser but the two birds reported on Sunday were not there. I did however pick up 5 year birds - all birds that I'd hoped to see at the Gilbert Water Ranch. That was my next stop, and I found these 5 birds and another 6 that were new for the year, including an unexpected Cattle Egret.

Cattle Egret

My next stop was Tempe Town Lake where I felt sure that I would see Brown Pelicann and Western Grebe and hoped to see a Horned Grebe reported the day before. Not only did I dip on the Horned Grebe, I also failed to find a pelican!

My final stop of the day was outside a school in the Arrowhead Lakes area in Glendale. I had trouble finding the school but not the drake Eurasian Wigeon in with no more than a dozen American Wigeon on the grass alongside a man-made fast-flowing creek.

Eurasian Wigeon

American Wigeon

I arrived home after my 4-day trip having added 78 birds for the year.