ACES Morning Birding at Rock Bottom Ranch 8/1/23

A roosting Great Horned Owl was an exciting find in the scrub oaks above the Rio Grande Trail. We also saw Gray Catbirds, Yellow Warblers, and Black-headed Grosbeaks in this food-rich habitat area. In the cottonwood galleries, there were many fledgling and adult Lewis’s Woodpeckers, House Wrens, and Magpies. Killdeer foraged among the vegetable beds, and Black-chinned and Broad-tailed hummingbirds visited the flower plantings. A large flock of Wild Turkeys was another highlight, as they ran and flew from the hillside above the Rio Grande Trail over the gravel road and into the grassy pastures of Rock Bottom Ranch. We discussed the nesting process of many of today’s observed species at this time when so many fledglings are out on the wing. Join us next week for Morning Birding at Hallam Lake!

Canada Goose

Mallard

Wild Turkey

Mourning Dove

Black-chinned Hummingbird

Broad-tailed Hummingbird

Turkey Vulture

Cooper’s Hawk

Great Horned Owl

Lewis’s Woodpecker

Red-naped Sapsucker

Northern Flicker

Western Wood-Pewee

Western Flycatcher

Say’s Phoebe

Warbling Vireo

Woodhouse’s Scrub-Jay

Black-billed Magpie

American Crow

Tree Swallow

Violet-green Swallow

Black-capped Chickadee

Mountain Chickadee

House Wren

American Robin

Gray Catbird

House Finch

American Goldfinch

Song Sparrow

Red-winged Blackbird

Yellow Warbler

Black-headed Grosbeak