10/10 Excellent
Steve D., Conshohocken, PA USA
24 Jan 2022
Liked: Cleanliness, check-in, communication, location, listing accuracy
Great House for Birders
We stayed at Ahwatukee Mountain View 1/9/2022 to 1/23/2022 and had a great time. We are birders and chose the house partly based on the fact that the owner mentioned putting out seed and attracting birds to the backyard. We also liked the location next to South Mountain Park. This was our first trip to the Southwest, and we got many lifers (25 for me, 37 for my wife), including some in the backyard of the house upon our arrival. In addition to the seed on the ground, there are two hanging sunflower seed feeders and a hummingbird feeder by the kitchen window. The hummingbird feeder attracted mainly Anna’s Hummingbird. but during our stay we also saw the occasional Costa’s Hummingbird. During other times of year, I suspect you’ll see other species. The regular “ordinary” visitors were Rock Pigeon, Mourning Dove, House Finch, and House Sparrow. More interesting visitors every day were Gambel’s Quail, White-crowned Sparrow, Curved-billed Thrasher and Abert’s Towhee. There were also occasional visits from Rosy-faced Lovebird, Inca Dove, and White-winged Dove. Other visitors seen in the tree or from the yard were: Gila Woodpecker, Gilded Flicker, Eurasian Collared-Dove, Verdin, Ruby-crowned Kinglet (once), Dark-eyed Junco (once), Northern Mockingbird, and European Starling. Seen once or twice over the park from the yard were Common Raven, Red-tailed Hawk, and one flyover of an Osprey. A Western Screech-Owl was seen occasionally at dusk in a cactus across the street from the house driveway.
Access to South Mountain Park is literally next to the house and offers many trails. Some of the birds found in the park were: Black-throated Sparrow, Cactus Wren, Great-tailed Grackle, Ladder-backed Woodpecker, Loggerhead Shrike, Northern Flicker, Western Screech-Owl (another cactus location), and Yellow-rumped Warbler. My main “miss” was Rock Wren, probably because my knees didn’t allow me to hike deeper into the park to find that species.
The house had everything we needed for a comfortable stay. It’s close to the main highways, so it’s a good location for birding daytrips, which we did. If you’re new to the Southwest, I highly recommend hiring a guide to take you around. The guides know the birds and where to go, and I estimate we probably saw double the lifers we would have seen “on our own”.
The owner is very friendly and accessible, and if there is anything you need, he’ll do his best to accommodate you.
Steve D.
Stayed 14 nights in Jan 2022
