Jacana In Casa Grande

It was 11:00 pm the night before when Aaron and I finally decided to go. For all we knew this was our only chance. We had discussed the route carefully and planned our trip leaving little margin for error. By 6:00 am the next morning we were on the hwy trapped in Tucson's congestion. We needed to travel 70 miles each way, find our bird, and be back in Tucson (and working) before 10 am. The slow start made us question our schedule. But once the construction ended we were back up to 80 mph and only 5 minutes behind schedule. No big deal.

We arrived at the Casa Grade Golf Course moments behind another birder. The 3 of us approached the closest pond slowly with eyes glued to the banks. Five minutes of looking and no sigh of it. Numerous Coots distracted us before we shifted to the other side. Then down on the bank something caught our attention... was it? Yes! The Northern Jacana was searching for breakfast no more than 40 feet away. We spent the next 20 minutes following it around the pond, marveling at its huge feet and prehistoric walk. It seems perfectly comfortable. Even moving out into the open until the smack of a golf ball sent it returning to the waters edge.

Aaron made it to the office by 9:20 that morning. The rest of the day moved slowly but we were smiling through it.

The next day I read a report claiming that the Jacana had been there for several months. Then this morning someone said 3 years. Who knew, maybe next time we'll wait until the weekend.

For a better look at the Jacana http://www.azfo.org/gallery/noja.html




Location: Dave White Golf Course, Casa Grande
Observation date: 11/7/07
Number of species: 15

Snow Goose 1
American Wigeon 20
Gambel's Quail 1
Pied-billed Grebe 2
American Coot 40
Killdeer 1
Northern Jacana 1
Belted Kingfisher 1
Black Phoebe 1
Common Raven 2
Verdin 1
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 1
White-crowned Sparrow 10
Dark-eyed Junco 1
Great-tailed Grackle 10

This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)