North and West Phoenix

I accompanied my wife on a work trip to Phoenix on Thursday February 20th and Friday February 21st.

On Thursday I headed first to a feeder in hopes of a Ruddy Ground-dove that had been reported a couple of weeks earlier. Others had tried without luck and I was not surprised when I failed to find it. I did see a few Inca Doves, a bird that is getting harder to find these days.

My next stop was at Lake Pleasant, somewhere that I went to just once a couple of decades ago. I was surprised to find such a big lake. Sadly the winds were strong and the water covered in white-tops and I had no luck locating any of the hoped-for water birds. I did add three birds to my year's list - Turkey Vulture, Osprey and Ring-billed Gull! I did find a bunch of wild burros (mules), something that I regularly see warning road signs for but never the animals themselves.

Wild Burros

 My final stop of the day was at some very quiet recharge ponds in Glendale where I added Lesser Yellowlegs for the year but birds were generally few and far between.

On Friday morning I went out to the Buckeye Thrasher spot where I had my best ever views of LeConte's Thrasher, seeing three birds running on the ground very close to me. I failed to find any other thrasher species but added a couple more year birds.