Bird'in at the Ranch

Yesterday on March 24th I spent the morning birding at the Gilbert Water Ranch with Mr. Paul Doucett, where we searched for a Brown Thrasher and a possible Greater Scaup. Even though we hit about an hours worth of traffic along the I-10, the ranch made up for that hour by birds and very few people (for this hotspot). We arrived at the spot a little after 8:00AM and birded it for around two hours before we had to leave. We decided to search for the thrasher first, as this would be a lifer for Mr. Paul. I was expecting to get a few glimpses if any looks of the thrasher, but as we walked up to where it has been staying for the winter I saw it near the top of a tree!!!

Brown Thrasher

The bird seemed like it grew to be tame in the last month since I first saw it, there was even a couple walking their dogs by this bird and it didn't care! But before long the thrasher flew down into some very thick brush on the side of the trail and remained in the darkness for the rest of the time we were there. We then started walking towards the "Fishing Pond" where the scaup sp. had been seen. On our way there we saw a couple of beautiful teal.

Blue-winged Teal 

Green-winged Teal

After observing what some were calling a Greater Scaup, which ended up just being the "Average Joe" Lesser Scaup, we set our eyes on a more confusing sight, a Canada Goose viciously attacking one of the Swan Geese.

Canada Goose

We ended the morning with 56 species of bird and some nice highlights. Thanks Mr. Paul for the awesome morning of birding, and congrats on the lifer BRTH!