Birding the Burn Field Trip Species List

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Wednesday, July 8, 2020, 7 AM – 10AM
Weather: Hot and sunny
Location: Basalt Mountain

Species Identified:

Mourning Dove
Black-chinned Hummingbird
Broad-tailed Hummingbird
Turkey Vulture
Red-tailed Hawk
accipiter sp.
Red-naped Sapsucker
American Three-toed Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Olive-sided Flycatcher
Western Wood-Pewee
empidonax flycatcher sp.
Plumbeous Vireo
Warbling Vireo
Tree Swallow
Violet-green Swallow
Mountain Chickadee
Red-breasted Nuthatch
White-breasted Nuthatch
House Wren
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Townsend’s Solitaire
Swainson’s Thrush
Hermit Thrush
American Robin
Evening Grosbeak
Pine Siskin
Lesser Goldfinch
Green-tailed Towhee
Song Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Orange-crowned Warbler
MacGillivray’s Warbler
Yellow Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Western Tanager
Black-headed Grosbeak

 

Comments:

 

Today’s birding hike explored a patchwork of habitats on Basalt Mountain near the edge of the 12,000-acre 2018 burn.  We birded in green, unburned areas and areas that had experienced various levels of burn, and the birds were as diverse and abundant as the lush wildflowers, young aspens and shrubs growing beneath charred snags.  We saw many newly fledged bird families, especially flickers, sapsuckers, wrens, solitaires, and juncos.  Pine siskins were also abundant in the conifer forest areas.  Additional highlights were a pair of hermit thrushes carrying squirming insects to feed to nestlings, lesser goldfinches in the lower creek drainage, and a brief look at a three-toed woodpecker that did a little drumming which helped confirm its identification (rapid and fading at the end).  We lunched beneath an aspen canopy, sitting on fallen logs among wildflowers, while we discussed bird and burn-related questions.  The afternoon was predictably quieter with regard to bird activity, but delivered excellent views of western tanagers, western wood-pewees, yellow-rumped warblers, and more sapsuckers.  ACES plans to conduct birding field trips on this loop trail every summer as we continue to observe the successional stages within the burn and how birdlife responds.  Meanwhile, join us for Morning Birding outings on Tuesdays through this summer!

 

~ Rebecca Weiss, ACES Bird Guide

Photo by Dale Armstrong