Morning Birding at Ashcroft | July 28, 2015

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Tuesday, July 28, 2015, 6:30AM – 9:30AM
Weather: clear and sunny
Location: Ashcroft

Species Identified
Red-tailed Hawk Broad-tailed Hummingbird Western Wood-peewee (pictured above) Cordilleran Flycatcher Warbling Vireo Steller’s Jay American Crow Tree Swallow Violet-green Swallow Mountain Chickadee		White-breasted Nuthatch House Wren American Dipper Ruby-crowned Kinglet American Robin Yellow-rumped Warbler Yellow Warbler Chipping Sparrow Song Sparrow House Finch

Comments:

 

We were lured up to Ashcroft this morning by sightings of a goshawk by ACES naturalists at Toklat… frost on the grass reminded us that as August approaches, mornings are once again crisp up high. Warmed by the sun shortly after starting, we watched violet-green swallows at their cavity nest in an aspen, yellow-rumped warblers gleaning insects in spruce trees, and chickadees foraging while clinging upside down from tiny branches. There was a glimpse of a dipper on Castle Creek, and a couple of nests inside one of the ghost town buildings. Back at the Ashcroft parking lot we watched a long-tailed weasel. Driving out, we had to pull over to put the scope on a hawk, hoping it might be the goshawk. Instead it was a beautiful red-tailed hawk, missing a secondary flight feather on one wing. CappinG off the morning back in the ACES parking lot, we saw a great deal of bird activity:  juvenile ruby-crowned kinglets, juvenile yellow-rumped warblers, chipping sparrows, white-breasted nuthatch… Lesson: never stop birding, even in the parking lot. Next week: more plumage changes are in store as juveniles and moulting adults are on the wing!

~ Rebecca Weiss, ACES Bird Guide

Photo by Mark Fuller