Getting Two Lifer’s in One Day!

Heather and Peter
Rusty Blackbird
Sunday Peter and I took my niece, Heather, to Phoenix to attend a conference.  We wanted to show her some of the natural beauty of our area.  Saturday we toured her around the Prescott lakes, introduced her to birding and later shopped on Whiskey Row.  Sunday we stopped in Anthem hoping to see the Rusty Blackbird, a rarity in Arizona and a lifer for Peter and I. We had been to the community lake three times before hoping to add this to our life list and this time we saw it!  Looking for one bird of a kind is always a challenge and it helped to have three pair of eyes.


Then we went to Tempe Town Lake because there was a Red-necked Grebe sighted and that also would be a lifer for me.  Tempe Town Lake is a beautiful community center.  In fact, there were three major events happening on the weekend.  We just wanted to stand on the pedestrian bridge to look for the one Red-necked Grebe! 

Red-necked Grebe

Fortunately Peter took his scope and I had my 400mm camera lens because the birds were far away . And yes we saw him.  You can feel a vibration on the bridge as people walk so picture taking is tricky!  I would have liked a little better focus in the pictures but…..

Western Grebe
There were also Western Grebes elegant with their long necks and Double-crested Cormorants drying their wings as they swam. 
Beautiful weather with a picnic later.  This is a great place to visit and bird.  We even saw a Brown Pelican flying!By the afternoon, Heather was proficient using the binoculars and learning to look for movement and detail around her.  We are hoping she does this again when she gets home to Iowa!  She has a great start for her life list!
 
 Lifer = First time a bird species is seen in nature and identified 
Life List = The total bird species seen and identified


Brown Pelican
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Location: 529 E Gilbert Dr, Tempe, AZ 85281, USA

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