White-faced Ibis on the go. Buckeye area in a small pond of water, about a dozen or more.

“Where is everyone?” A Greenie seems to wonder at Glendale Recharge Ponds. Maybe the recent rains will bring some companions.

Snowy Egret checking for fish in shallow water at Glendale Recharge Ponds.

Ibis gathering at Glendale Recharge Ponds. It’s always so interesting how just turning a certain way to the sun brings out the colors, or not.

Burrowing Owl, old cemetery in Buckeye. There has been disagreement about the little owls. Should they be moved? What matters most, the owls or the precious gravesites? I don’t see an easy answer.

I just went again today and it had been over a year. I have gone to this cemetery many years. When the cemetery is kept in good condition – the paths smoothed, any burrows closed up, grave sites in good shape – the owls leave. When time has passed and no one has been working at the cemetery, owls return and they do damage grave stones and sites. Today it has obviously been awhile and owls were there, some deep into grave sites. I could see piles of small crosses, with names on them, ready to be planted in the ground at sites that had no stones. When the Boy Scouts, or whoever is tending the cemetery now, return, the owls will leave. I see no easy solution to this. The owls that are there might be removed, by who I don’t know, but others will come in when timing is right. I love the owls. I respect the graves of many people, and a great number of infants and children, from years past. Surely we can’t destroy this cemetery. Keep in mind, there is no grass here, only dirt, like many old cemeteries in Arizona.

Snowy Egret – Glendale Recharge Ponds

Great Egret – Just dropping in.

Ibis – Glendale Recharge Ponds

Many Ibis in Basin 5 at Glendale Ponds, in a small amount of water. They look a bit ragged and are molting.

The Great Blue Heron seemed annoyed by the Spoonbills, in a shallow pool at Glendale Recharge Ponds.