Morning Birding at Rock Bottom Ranch 8/9/22

---

Tuesday, August 9, 2022, 7:30am-10:30am
Weather: Sunny
Location: Rock Bottom Ranch, Basalt, CO

 

This outing started with a flurry of birds in the food-rich mountain shrubland habitat to the south of the Rio Grande Trail across from RBR’s parking lot. We saw a dozen species right away as birds foraged on service berries and other fruits in the shrub canopy. Juveniles of many species were in the mix, evidence of a successful nesting season. As we birded our way through the ranch and back on to the Rio Grande Trail near the base of the Buckhorn Trail, we found many more species and watched interesting behaviors. Highlights included a loose flock of northern rough-winged swallows that foraged low above the landscape, as they are known to do, and then perched to preen in great light; a sora feeding on the far pond; a black-throated gray warbler; and a juvenile Cooper’s hawk loudly begging for food from an adult that was tending it. Robins, waxwings, blackbirds, and finches are gathering into flocks as they prepare for migration or for flock lifestyles as resident birds throughout the year. With more than forty species seen today, we were thrilled with the diversity that we saw and heard, and learned a lot about field marks, diagnostic or typical behaviors, and ranges. Join us next week for Morning Birding at Hallam Lake and an outing at North Star Nature Preserve!

Species List: 

Canada Goose
Mallard
Wild Turkey
Rock Pigeon
Eurasian Collared-Dove
Black-chinned Hummingbird
Broad-tailed Hummingbird
Rufous Hummingbird
Sora
Great Blue Heron
Red-tailed Hawk
Cooper’s Hawk
Lewis’s Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
American Kestrel
Western Wood-Pewee
Cordilleran Flycatcher
Woodhouse’s Scrub-Jay
Black-billed Magpie
American Crow
Common Raven
Violet-green Swallow
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Black-capped Chickadee
White-breasted Nuthatch
House Wren
American Robin
Gray Catbird
European Starling
Cedar Waxwing
Lesser Goldfinch
American Goldfinch
Spotted Towhee
Lark Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Bullock’s Oriole
Red-winged Blackbird
Yellow Warbler
Black-throated Gray Warbler
Western Tanager
Black-headed Grosbeak

~ Rebecca Weiss, ACES Bird Guide

Featured photo: Sora