Father Charlie and I went to the Gila River in Avondale and Phoenix. We stopped at two spots along the river: Base and Meridian Wildlife Area (BMWA), and Tres Rios Wetlands. We had some record rainfalls for October before our trip, and there was a lot of water in the river. We were surprised that there were so few waterfowl there – it’s a mystery to me, but there must be a good explanation.
We started at the BMWA at Avondale Blvd (aka 115th Avenue) by the ISM Raceway (formerly Phoenix International Raceway aka PIR). This is part of the larger Tres Rios Wetlands. We hiked under the bridge, and then a long way down river. We didn’t encounter much wildlife. We then hiked over to the north side by the dike where the fields are. There were a lot of birds in the trees with the red berries (Chinese Pistache tree?) by the farm house, but we didn’t have much luck with photos. There were about 3 Northern Harriers in there, but they took off before we could photograph them.
Then we went to the ‘other side’ of the Tres Rios Wetlands, at 91st Avenue just south of Southern Avenue. A pass is required for this area. We hiked along the river west of 91st Ave. We hiked quite a ways down the river. We saw some raptors (lots of Osprey, Northern Harrier, Red-tailed Hawk). There was a pair of Belted Kingfishers (adult female and juvenile male) chasing each other and making their rattling call, as if they were fighting for territory along the fence. They were there when we hiked in, and still at it when we were hiking out. The fence is enclosing the large ponds that we aren’t allowed to access.
We had a great time. We plan on going back and hiking the 3 mile trail along the river from 115th Ave to 91st Ave.
