#571
(click on photo to enlarge)
Those of you who keep “life lists” will know the significance of the above number. It represents how many birds I’ve seen in North America according to the American Birding Association Checklist*. Last week a Mountain Plover, sixteen of them in fact, became #571 on my life list. The small flock is hanging out at the Western Sod Farm, in the Santa Cruz Flats area, accessed from Pretzler Road near Eloy, AZ. The management of the sod farm is kind enough to allow birders to drive around the periphery of the sod fields and that’s exactly what we did until we found them resting on one of the plowed areas.
Mountain Plover (Charadrius montanus)
* The ABA Checklist includes native North American breeding species, regular visitors, casuals and accidentals from other regions that are believed to have strayed here without direct human aid, and well-established introduced species that are now part of our avifauna. Total species possible at this time are 939.
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