Recently my friend Valerie and I went to Phoenix to attend a scrapbooking class. The day of class it rained and rained and rained. I was beginning to believe that I wouldn’t get a chance to bird on the following day.
Luckily, Saturday’s weather had improved. The rain had stopped, but there were still clouds and a pretty strong breeze and the temperature was pretty cold, especially for Phoenix. But I deemed it good enough to go birding.
So I headed for my favorite birding spot in Phoenix: Gilbert Water Ranch. It’s a fabulous place that has several water reclamation ponds and lots of walking trails.

Entrance to Gilbert Water Ranch at Sunset
When I first arrived, there were three people there holding rescued owls. Of course, I just had to stop. It was a very cloudy morning, so the lighting was poor, but I was determined to get the best photos I could.

Western Screech Owl

Burrowing Owl

Great Horned Owl
After enjoying the owls, Scarlett and I hit the trails. There were bunnies EVERYWHERE!!! Scarlett was almost overwhelmed at seeing so many bunnies and mom wouldn’t let her chase any of them. Those bunnies were either brave or foolish. 🙂

Cute bunny enjoying the weak morning sun.

Mom! That bunny is so close!!!!!
There were lots of shorebirds about. Most of them were quite a distance away, making it difficult to get good photos.

Long-Billed Dowitchers

American Avocet

Least Sandpiper

Black-Necked Stilts
I saw several egrets and herons about.

Great Egret

Green Heron deep in a bush.

Snowy Egret
I just happened to notice three Wilson’s Snipes snoozing under a bush. They blended in so well that most people walking by never knew they were just a few feet away.

Wilson’s Snipes
Lots of waterfowl out.

Hooded Merganser female

Northern Shoveler

Northern Pintail

Canada Goose

Green-Winged Teal male and female
Finding and photographing the small birds in the low light and windy conditions was challenging. I did manage to find a few. But as you can see, the photos aren’t that great. It’s quite challenging to take pics of birds on little twigs swinging in the breeze!

Red-Winged Blackbird

Cactus Wren

Verdin

Mourning Dove

Abert’s Towhee

Northern Mockingbird

Orange-Crowned Warbler

Song Sparrow

European Starlings

Yellow-Rumped Warbler

Gambel’s Quail

Gila Woodpecker

Curve-Billed Thrasher
My most enjoyable part of the day was when I came across several cooperative Anna’s Hummingbirds. I had a great time taking lots of photos in hopes of catching the fire in the feathers.

Anna’s Hummingbird female

Anna’s Hummingbird male – you can see a hint of color

Anna’s Hummingbird

Those wings move fast!

My favorite photo of the day!
Scarlett and I ended up hiking 9.5 miles that day! We were pooped! I’m sure Scarlett dreamt about chasing rabbits all night long! 🙂

Scarlett sound asleep…that’s a satisfied puppy!