Lake Christine Fall Migration Field Trip Species List

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Thursday, September 17, 2020 7:30 AM – 11 AM
Weather:  Sunny, haze from wildfires in the region 
Location: Lake Christine

Species Identified:

Mallard
Broad-tailed Hummingbird
Great Blue Heron
Virginia Rail
Turkey Vulture
Golden Eagle
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Lewis’s Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Western Wood-Pewee
Pinyon Jay
Steller’s Jay
Woodhouse’s Scrub-Jay
Clark’s Nutcracker
Black-billed Magpie
American Crow
Black-cappee Chickadee
Mountain Chickadee
White-breasted Nuthatch
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
American Robin
Cedar Waxwing
Evening Grosbeak
Lesser Goldfinch
Green-tailed Towhee
Spotted Towhee
Chipping Sparrow
Brewer’s Sparrow
Song SparrowLincoln’s Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Brown-headed Cowbird
Orange-crowned Warbler
MacGillivray’s Warbler
Yellow Warbler
Townsend’s Warbler
Wilson’s Warbler

Comments:

 

Warbler mania continues!  One of our participants compiled an eBird list for today’s outing (thank you, Catherine!) and reported 100 yellow-rumped warblers and 100 Wilson’s warblers!  We also saw about 50 Clark’s nutcrackers and nearly as many pinyon jays.  This field trip was certainly filled with birds, at times so many that we had many conversations going on at once as we shared what we were seeing.  The main take-aways from our experience were:  fall migration is much more protracted than spring migration, there are about 3-4 times as many birds with the young of the year, and we will be talking about the warblers of fall 2020 for years to come!  Additional highlights included:  two sharp-shinned hawks, evening grosbeaks as fly-overs, many turkey vultures, a Virginia rail, and a golden eagle as a few of us lingered after the trip.  Lake Christine’s habitats were so full of birds that we never made it to Basalt River Park, which was our planned second location.  Join us on Tuesday at Hallam Lake for more exciting fall migration birding!

~ Rebecca Weiss, ACES Bird Guide

Photo by Mark Fuller