Celebrate Hummingbirds

March 13th was the Celebrate Hummingbirds walk at Rio Salado, but it was more like Celebrate Warblers.  The Yellow-rumped Warblers were everywhere!  We were at the Central Ave. location, NE side.  The highlight was seeing a Brown Creeper, and a Black and White Warbler in the willows on the way to the waterfall.

This spot along the Rio Salado is great for people of all levels of disability - you can practicaly bird right in the parking lot.  If you don't want to venture out on the trail, just sit by the observation pond and just wait to see who flies in, or overhead.  You're bound to see Cormorants, Herons and Egrets fly overhead, and a few Coots, Grebes, and a variety of ducks in the pond.   There are plenty of sidewalks, paved trails, shaded areas, and hard-packed dirt trails.  I only encountered one trail (after the Hummingbird Walk was over) that became inaccessible halfway through - a set of artsy hand made pavers jutting 4 inches out of the ground made the trail impassable.

Tom Gaskill led the walk and gave great advice about identifying Hummers - look at COLOR LAST - first look at FORM, SIZE, BEHAVIOR, and HABITAT.   I saw mainly Anna's, but there was one Broad-tailed near the demonstration wetlands.

DOUBLE-CLICK image below to see an ENLARGED version of the slide-show.