[ Salt-Verde Rivers | Carefree | Gila River | Patagonia | Puerto Penasco, MX ]
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[ Salt-Verde Rivers | Carefree | Gila River | Patagonia | Puerto Penasco, MX ]
by Walter Thurber (compiler)
The eleventh annual Carefree Christmas Bird Count was held on Monday, December 30, 2002. Some 58 field observers and 15 feeder watchers teamed up to record 103 species and 11,501 individual birds (we like to be exact). These are not record totals but they are above average for us.
New species for the count were Gadwall, Northern Rough-winged Swallow, Rufous-backed Robin, Varied Thrush and Yellow-headed Blackbird. The Gadwall was spotted at the Rancho Manana Golf Club while the other birds were found at various places along Cave Creek between Seven Springs and the Spur Cross Ranch Conservation Area. Species noted on the count for just the second time were Canada Goose, Plumbeous Vireo and Lawrence’s Goldfinch.
We are still in a drought here. Rainfall averaged just 3.06 inches in calendar year 2002, making this the driest of the past five years in the count area. Therefore we were pleased when Ring-necked Duck, Bushtit, Black-throated Sparrow and eight other species showed up in record numbers. Doves were down and only seven warblers were found.
We returned to the Satisfied Frog Restaurant in Cave Creek for our compilation dinner. I am grateful to all of the Maricopa Audubon members who set aside valuable holiday time to support this count.
[ Salt-Verde Rivers | Carefree | Gila River | Patagonia | Puerto Penasco, MX ]
No Information available at this time
[ Salt-Verde Rivers | Carefree | Gila River | Patagonia | Puerto Penasco, MX ]
No Information available at this time
[ Salt-Verde Rivers | Carefree | Gila River | Patagonia | Puerto Penasco, MX ]
No Information available at this time
[ Salt-Verde Rivers | Carefree | Gila River | Patagonia | Puerto Penasco, MX ]
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