Morning Birding at Rock Bottom Ranch | September 13, 2016

---

Tuesday, September 13, 2016, 7:30AM – 10:30AM
Weather: partly cloudy, turning sunny
Location: Rock Bottom Ranch

Species Identified
Canada goose Mallard Red-tailed hawk (by ear) Rock pigeon Eurasian collared-dove Great horned owl Belted kingfisher Lewis’s woodpecker Downy woodpecker Northern flicker		Plumbeous vireo Cassin’s vireo Clark”s nutcracker Black-billed magpie American crow Black-capped chickadee Ruby-crowned kinglet American robin Gray catbird European starling		Cedar waxwing Yellow warbler Yellow-rumped warbler Wilson’s warbler (pictured above) Spotted towhee Song sparrow White-crowned sparrow Red-winged blackbird House finch Lesser goldfinch American goldfinch

Comments:
This was a spectacular morning of birding, with the merlin as a major highlight. Juvenile waxwings, starlings, and red-winged blackbirds mixed in flocks with adults. Lewis’s woodpeckers and Clark’s nutcrackers were active across the ranch. And warblers and vireos gave us brief views as they darted among vegetation. The merlin sat still long enough for everyone to get great looks through the scope, and as a group we pooled our observations and came up with the ID. Conspicuously missing since only about a week or less, were swallows, hummingbirds, and flycatchers.  

~ Rebecca Weiss, ACES Bird Guide

Photo by Mark Fuller