Date: 4/1/26 1:16 pm From: Steven Tracey (via aznmbirds Mailing List) <aznmbirds...> Subject: [AZNMbirds] SEAZ: San Pedro River Birding Walk
Hi Birders,
This morning's San Pedro River birding walk started with ominous skies and
a healthy breeze but pleasant temps. Undeterred by the wind, 12 birders
managed to find 46 species on the trails around the San Pedro House. With
the windy conditions, passerines were much easier to hear than to see but
still the group managed to get some decent looks at Lucy's Warblers,
Orange-crowned Warblers, Northern Yellow Warblers and Bell's Vireos. Also
braving the wind, a Great Blue Heron was hunkered down but still visible in
the nest at the top of a swaying cottonwood. The windy conditions seemed
to prompt the raptors to take to the skies as we saw Gray Hawk, Red-tailed
Hawk, and a number of swirling Turkey Vultures. The raptor highlight,
though, was our first Swainson's Hawk of the year zooming north above the
river.
Just another reminder to start thinking about which location you would like
to bird at for the Big Morning Birding Challenge portion of the Celebrate
the San Pedro festival on Saturday April 25. Teams will be birding along
the San Pedro at Waters Road (Casa de San Pedro), Hereford Bridge, San
Pedro House, Escapule Wash, and Millville (Charleston Bridge). Further
details can be found on the Friends of the San Pedro River Facebook page.
The Friends of the San Pedro River leads birding walks every Wednesday of
April. For the month of April, the walks leave at 7:00a from the BLM’s San
Pedro House south of State Route 90 just west of the San Pedro River. We
walk about 4km, and we are out for about three hours. Bring your own
binoculars, a hat and water.
The next San Pedro River birding walk is on Wednesday April 8, at 7:00a.
