Boyce Thompson Arboretum, Feb 26, 2021

Mary Ann and I went to the Boyce Thompson Arboretum (BTA) on Friday, February 26. We got a late start, and didn’t get there until about 11:00, which isn’t typically a good time for birding. We dropped off the new ‘Birds of Boyce Thompson Arboretum’ posters at the gift shop.

We didn’t see many birds. The only one that was interesting was the Anna’s Hummingbird building a nest. Other than that, there were just some common water fowl.

On the way home, we stopped at the ebird.org hotspot at Elliot and Hawes Rd (ebird calls it: “Elliot and Hawes Rd Slop Ponds”). We heard it was a good place to see raptors. At one time, this was an area of thriving dairy farms: Superstition Farm, Van Rijn Dairy, Double Dutch Dairy, Boyle Dairy, Arizona Dairy. Some of them have now closed or moved due to development and rezoning in the area. The Arizona Dairy is still operational, and maybe the Van Rijn Dairy. Superstition Farm, north of Elliot Road on Hawes, has a small store open, where we stopped and bought some cheese and ice cream. My understanding is that most of their farm is being sold to developers, but the family is keeping a small section. They sell milk, cheese, ice-cream, butter, etc, which they make there.

The ‘slop ponds’ at the ebird hotspot were dry. We were able to drive around the abandoned dairy farm south of Elliot Road, next to the ponds. There were hundreds of empty stalls where the cows had been, with large fans in each stall. We saw some Red-tailed Hawks at the abandoned dairy farm. We drove down to the Arizona Dairy Farm, which is still operational, just to check it out. It is just west of Sossaman Road on Elliot (Sossaman is one mile west of Hawes Rd).