ACES Morning Birding at Rock Bottom Ranch 08/19/25

Hot, dry conditions are playing a more significant role in bird activities this summer as persistent drought continues. Bird activity was strong in any proximity to water or green, leafy foliage. Scrub-jays and Lewis’s woodpeckers are beginning to cache acorns, goldfinches are feeding in gardens and natural ecosystems rich in composite flowers, and sparrows are foraging along trail- and road-sides for seeds of weedy plants. Swallows were conspicuously absent while we birded, perhaps having joined some of the amassing migration flocks in the valley. Highlights included hearing the grunting calls of a Virginia rail at the back pond, many red-winged blackbirds missing all or most of their tail feathers in mid-molt, a calliope hummingbird, an olive-sided flycatcher, and an abundance of gray catbirds. Geese are flying in formation, having completed their late summer molt and regained the ability to fly. Fall is in the air, albeit a bit early this year. Join us for more fall migration birding into September and October – let’s find a couple of migrating Cassin’s vireos!