Two of my favorite hobbies are birding and geocaching. I decided to try and combine the two by placing some geocaches in some of my birding hotspots. Whether you like to hit the road in search of that rare bird (or that elusive cache) or just enjoy watching the birds at your feeder through your living room window (or that easy P&G), I hope you enjoy these caches and the areas they bring you to.
The Phoenix Center Park is 20 acres that includes a walking trail, ponds, natural areas, 6 tennis courts and a bathroom. It has multiple benches along the paved walking trail and even a couple of picnic tables at the parking lot.
This park was made an eBird hotspot back in March 2017. Although it gets used a lot by tennis players and dog walkers, it is only birded by a couple of folks. In less than 2 years of birding this park, it already has had over 100 different bird species identified here. That’s pretty phenomenal for a “city park”. One of my favorite bird residents that can be seen here on a regular basis is the Red Shouldered Hawk. Per Audobon.org, the Red Shouldered Hawk, is a hawk of the woodlands, often heard before it is seen. The clear whistled calls of this hawk are conspicuous, especially in spring and Blue Jays often give a near-perfect imitation of this call. It usually hunts by watching from a perch and swooping down when it locates prey, which includes small mammals, amphibians, reptiles, and other birds. The nest (built by both sexes) is a platform of sticks and other material, lined with bark, moss, and sprigs of green vegetation. It may be reused for more than one season.
BYOP. Park is open from 6:00 a.m. to 12:00 Midnight. Permission was granted for this geocache by Wayne Dunker, Director Washington Parks Department.
Be sure to check out the other geocaches in the area.