Elderhostel Birding Trip

Yuma Elderhostel Trip
Jan 21-25, 2002 - 40-68 degrees
narrated by Henry Detwiler

A group of twenty-one intrepid adventurers from all parts of the country converged on Yuma to search for birds.
128 species (list follows at end of page)

Click on thumbnail pictures for full-sized shots.

Elderhostel Group at Betty's Kitchen

Merlin south of Mittry Lake

Our first two days were spent close to the Colorado River, a natural magnet for birds in this desert country. At Kool Corner, we got a peak at our resident Great Horned Owl, and excellent looks at this Merlin. In the adjoining horse pasture we looked at the first Vermilion Flycatcher of the day, too.

At Betty's Kitchen we hiked the short trail and found some of our typical southwestern birds such as Verdin, Abert's Towhee, gnatcatcher, shrike, and the wintering Hermit Thrush and Ruby-crowned Kinglet

Loggerhead Shrike at Betty's Kitchen

Pied-billed Grebe

After lunch we drove up river to the Imperial Dam area. My attempts to lure out Black Rails were in vain, but we did spot lots of other birds, including this photogenic Pied-billed Grebe.

Desilting Ponds at Imperial Dam
At the desilting ponds south of Imperial Dam, we looked at perched Ospreys, Lesser Scaup, Bufflehead, more wigeons, Canvasback, and Ring-necked Duck.	Bob & Company

Tuesday morning was spent on Martinez Lake & the Colorado River with Ron and his Yuma River Tours. Ron took us to see Clarke's and Western Grebes, Herman the Great Egret, Ospreys, and excellent looks at a most cooperative Least Bittern.

Ron (right) and Yuma River Tours

Backwater of the Colorado River

Martinez Lake

We ate lunch at the Martinez Lake Restaurant, where the owners were feeding hummers and a covey of quail.

Female Gambel's Quail

Pam talks about the cottonwoods

Imperial NWR

Pam Martin gave us a tour of Imperial National Wildlife Refuge, where we watched Snow & Canada Geese, Vermilion Flycatchers, and many other birds.

Wednesday was a half day, and we spent it in the Gila Valley searching for grassland and scrub desert species. Not two minutes after arriving at a saltbush flat, we were spotting Sage Sparrows and LeConte's Thrashers.	Sage Sparrow
LeConte's Thrasher	As we headed back to Tacna for a big chicken dinner, we got a fleeting look at a Ferruginous Hawk and then played leapfrog with a Prairie Falcon along the railroad telephone poles.

ON to PAGE 2

Yuma Area Elderhostel Trip, 21-25 Jan 2002


#	Species
1	Western Grebe
2	Eared Grebe
3	Pied-billed Grebe
4	Clark's Grebe
5	Brown Pelican
6	White Pelican
7	Double-crested Cormorant
8	Green Heron
9	Least Bittern
10	Great Blue Heron
11	Great Egret
12	Cattle Egret
13	Black-crowned Night Heron
14	Snowy Egret
15	White-faced Ibis
16	Ring-necked Duck
17	Greater Scaup
18	Wood Duck
19	Ruddy Duck
20	Redhead
21	Northern Pintail
22	Mallard
23	Lesser Scaup
24	Green-winged Teal
25	Common Merganser
26	Common Goldeneye
27	Cinnamon Teal
28	Canvasback
29	Bufflehead
30	American Wigeon
31	Canada Goose
32	Snow Goose
33	Northern Shoveler
34	Ross' Goose
35	Gadwall
36	Virginia Rail
37	Sora
38	Common Moorhen
39	American Coot
40	American Avocet
41	Black-necked Stilt
42	Black-bellied Plover
43	Killdeer
44	Mountain Plover
45	Long-billed Dowitcher
46	Stilt Sandpiper
47	Willet
48	Spotted Sandpiper
49	Marbled Godwit
50	Long-billed Curlew
51	Lesser Yellowlegs
52	Least Sandpiper
53	Greater Yellowlegs
54	Western Sandpiper
55	Dunlin
56	Bonaparte's Gull
57	California Gull
58	Herring Gull
59	Ring-billed Gull
60	Caspian Tern
61	Forster's Tern
62	Turkey Vulture
63	Ferruginous Hawk
64	Northern Harrier


#	Species
65	Osprey
66	Red-tailed Hawk
67	Sharp-shinned Hawk
68	Cooper's Hawk
69	Prairie Falcon
70	American Kestrel
71	Merlin
72	Peregrine Falcon
73	Gambel's Quail
74	Ring-necked Pheasant
75	Inca Dove
76	Common Ground-Dove
77	Mourning Dove
78	Rock Dove
79	Greater Roadrunner
80	Burrowing Owl
81	Great Horned Owl
82	White-throated Swift
83	Anna's Hummingbird
84	Belted Kingfisher
85	Gila Woodpecker
86	Ladder-backed Woodpecker
87	Northern Flicker
88	Say's Phoebe
89	Black Phoebe
90	Vermilion Flycatcher
91	Horned Lark
92	Northern Rough-winged Swallow
93	Tree Swallow
94	Common Raven
95	Verdin
96	Cactus Wren
97	Marsh Wren
98	House Wren
99	Hermit Thrush
100	American Robin
101	Black-tailed Gnatcatcher
102	Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
103	Ruby-crowned Kinglet
104	Loggerhead Shrike
105	Northern Mockingbird
106	Crissal Thrasher
107	Leconte's Thrasher
108	American Pipit
109	Phainopepla
110	European Starling
111	Yellow-rumped Warbler
112	Common Yellowthroat
113	Orange-crowned Warbler
114	Western Meadowlark
115	Red-winged Blackbird
116	Great-tailed Grackle
117	Brewer's Blackbird
118	House Sparrow
119	Song Sparrow
120	Abert's Towhee
121	Vesper Sparrow
122	Savannah Sparrow
123	Sage Sparrow
124	Dark-eyed Junco
125	Lincoln's Sparrow
126	Brewer's Sparrow
127	White-crowned Sparrow
128	House Finch

	Pied-billed Grebe
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