As mentioned last week, I receive daily eBird rare bird sighting email alerts on a daily basis. In eBird, you can make a selection to receive emails either hourly, or daily. Additionally, when you sign-up to receive email notifications you can specify which county you want to receive notices from.

Over the last few weeks there have been a lot of rare bird sightings, and many of them have been at Willow Lake. For a few weeks now numbers of birders have observed an eastern phoebe and a black and white warbler in the cottonwood peninsula area on the west side of the lake.

This past week three tundra swans showed up at Willow Lake. Last week there were also two American white pelicans at Willow Lake. No two days spent birding are alike. You just don’t know, from one day to the next, what bird species might arrive, or how long they will stay.

Over the last week I’ve birded the west end of Willow Lake on three different occasions, hoping to get a visual on some of the rare birds that have been reported. Last Wednesday, while birding at Willow I saw forty-seven species in less than two hours.

My best find of the day was actually across the street from the small dirt pull-out on the north side of Willow Lake Rd., opposite Simpson Lane.

Until next week, Happy Birding!

Eric Moore is the owner of The Lookout, in Prescott, where you will find a Hallmark Gold Crown Store, wild bird products, and Swarovski and Vortex optics. Eric has been an avid birder for over 55 years. Eric can be contacted at eric@thelookoutaz.com.

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