Bill and I had a great time and added 106 birds to my year count. However, the purpose of the trip was to add rarities and on that account we were pretty successful. We did miss the Eurasian Wigeons at the San Diego R. mouth. We didn’t try for the Yuma Streak-backed Orioles. We did get the Bean Goose, Rufous-backed Robins and Ruddy Ground-Doves. All three of these birds are category four birds that I’ll need to reach 700 species. We also located two Lawrence’s Goldfinches on the Sunrise Hwy. and the Le Conte’s Thrasher at Borrego Springs. I’d tried twice before for a Le Conte’s in California and was unsuccessful on both attempt- once with Larry Rosche and Jeff Wert and once with the legendary Guy McCaskie (which reminds me of a story I’ll tell soon) so this was a minor accomplishment.
John & Bill Vanderpoel at Phoenix South Mt. Park
