On Sunday January 3rd we drove to the Phoenix-Mesa Gateway airport to put my son on a plane to Bellingham. In the area of the airport I added Mourning Dove, Black and Turkey Vultures and Northern Harrier to my 2016 list, as well as Great-tailed Grackle, Verdin and Curve-billed Thrasher while wandering around the car park!
We stopped at the Gilbert Water Ranch - just 15 minutes from the airport and en route home - for about half an hour where I added a further 15 species for the year, nothing special - this was just a quick grab for my list - 4 waders, 2 egrets, Green-winged Teal and a few songbirds. We then stopped at the Tempe Marketplace hoping to refind the Brown Pelican from three weeks ago. Alas the bird was not there but I added Great Blue Heron, Black-crowned Night Heron and Osprey for the year.
The final stop of the day was at Dos Lagos Park in Glendale where last year's male Eurasian Wigeon had returned - this time he was on the north pond and away from the road. The park also had Double-crested and Neotropic Cormorants sitting together and a Killdeer.
I added 32 birds for the year taking my 2016 total to 63.
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