ACES Morning Birding at Rock Bottom Ranch 09/02/25

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Tuesday, September 2, 2025, 7:30am-10:30am

Weather: Mostly sunny

Location: Rock Bottom Ranch

 

Birds seem to be clustered in pockets of activity, whether resident birds that are caching foods or migrating birds that are foraging in preparation for the next leg of their journeys. Today, highlights included seeing Lewis’s woodpeckers and scrub-jays caching food items, mostly acorns from the Gambel oaks. We saw these birds flying back and forth between oak thickets and cache locations carrying acorns, one at a time. The acorns appeared to be very light-colored, indicating that they had been peeled of their hard, outer shell. Birds do this to assess the quality of the acorn, ensuring that they cache only high quality nuts, and not ones that contain a weevil or other factor that would compromise its value as food for the bird. This also reduces tannin content, making the acorns more digestible later when they are retrieved and consumed by the birds. Another highlight was coming across a large flock of bushtits along the Rio Grande Trail, where these tiny birds busily foraged in shrubs right next to the trail. They were unshy and stayed so long that we eventually walked away from them to continue with our outing. We were able to listen to their quiet contact calls and observe them as they combed over foliage and twigs, finding things to eat that were invisible to us. Bushtits have nomadic behaviors, and are unpredictable in semi-open mixed shrub habitats. It is always a treat to encounter these birds! We were also thrilled to hear the grunting calls of a Virginia Rail only a few feet away from us in the cattails at the far pond. Enjoy the change of seasons and the excellent fall migration activity!

 

Species List: 

~ Rebecca Weiss, ACES Bird Guide

Featured Photo: Spotted Towhee