Tweets,

This note may be too long for some, but here we go anyway.

My son, Kris, and I were fortunate enough to spend some time visiting
Phoenix recently and thought the following excerpt from our journal may
interest some of the subscribers to the list.

Under fairly sound advice, we were instructed to visit the sod farms in
Arizona City with the off chance of viewing Mountain Plovers.

Arizona City is not far from Phoenix and toward Tucson. We took the
exit from Hwy # 10 into Arizona City. The terrain is flat and is in a
habitat known as desert scrub land. We proceeded with caution in our
rented car into town. Posted speed limit "30 MPH" observed carefully as
we were sure that our 1998 rent-a-car stood out amongst the neighbours
pickups, and in all probability there would be an anxious sheriff just
behind the next billboard. We wheeled into a very large gravel parking
lot in town to ask a lone senior gentleman, who was walking across the
lot, where we might find the ponds. He explained that he didn't know
anything about any ponds and that we should try the gas station for
instructions.

We drove across the lot and parked, got out of the car and walked past
the old 1950 style gas pumps, where no gas was being sold, and entered
the coffee shop.

The coffee shop was a very small room attached to the garage, The
horse-shoe shaped counter was arborite with a 4" metal trim. There were
about 10 cracked red leather swivel stools surrounding the counter, of
which about 6 were occupied by seniors drinking coffee from 1/2" thick
cups on saucers. I swear, every single individual was smoking a Pall
Mall.

Kris was obviously very nervous about walking into this place wearing
bins and a camera. OK! we're from "out of town!" We asked the gal
pouring coffee if there were any ponds around. She immediately directed
our question to one of the old gals at the counter with the remark
"ponds? just ask the mayor." The old gal sipping her coffee, says "Pawn
shop?? What do you boys want a Pawn shop for?" The elderly gent with
the baseball cap and wrap around shades, sitting at the corner end of
the bar, flicks his butt and sas "Pond, not pawn" I explain we are
looking for water, and the mayor says "oh, you mean the lake!?" A great
deal of discussion breaks out amongst all of the coffee drinking crowd
on how to get to the lake. One remembers that you turn where Joe and El
live, another reminds that Joe sold that place when El passed on etc,
etc.. Anyway, Kris and I have a relative feeling as to where we should
head, and much to my son's chigrin, I ask where the sod forms are.

Of couse this cofuses the crap out of the coffee crowd with
exclaimations of SOD?? I try to expain......turf?, grass?, lawn?. No
luck. The bins and camera have blown our cover. We are not from around
here.

Anyway, afer an hour of birding or so, we finally discover the sod farm.
Beautiful. Mountain Plovers picking up off the field were water has
ponded and most of the sod has been lifted. The field is behind an
earth dyke that separates it from the gravel road. On the other side of
the road is a cotton field with the cotton ready for picking. There is
no traffic at all. As we are slowly driving down the road, Kris
exclaims "Burrowing Owl!" Sure enough, there is a sentinal owl perched
ontop of the earth dyke for all the world to see. We approach slowly in
the red rent-a-car and the bird disappears into its burrow. We pull
along side and get out in hopes of getting a better view. We sit and
wait trying to be as quiet as a mouse. Nice trick when dealing with
owls. The owl did not reappear from the burrow immediatiely adjacent to
the road, when Kris says "Gull? What is a gull....oh my god!.....Cattle
Egret!" A CAEG lands on the field 20 ft away from us. A lifer for him
and my second sighting of this bird. Cool. Then a flock of maybe 20
birds fly by and land.....Horned Larks. Kris then spots this large
white bird coming in...Cattle Egret!


We drive down the road and come back 10 minutes later to get
unbelievable looks at the Burrowing Owl that has returned to its
sedentary post ontop top of the earth dyke beside its burrow.

This is only one of our day trips while birding in Arizona.


Ken Klimko

Richmond, BC