Morning Birding at Rock Bottom Ranch Species List

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Tuesday, August 3, 2021 7:30am-10:30am
Weather: Cloudy
Location: Rock Bottom Ranch

Comments: 

 

Cooler weather and a low cloud ceiling made this a special morning, with the scent of sagebrush in the air and lots of bird activity.  Highlights included watching killdeer in the lettuce field and hummingbirds in the flowers surrounding the beehives.  We were thrilled to watch an osprey pursuing a bald eagle and see an aggressive interaction between these two big birds that involved the eagle flipping upside down and striking out with its talons.  Their agility and power was impressive!  We watched active families of northern flickers and Lewis’s woodpeckers, as well as a juvenile red-tailed hawk that gave begging calls non-stop.  At the far pond, an American goldfinch perched on a plant stem and reached down to feed on food items (probably seeds, maybe insects) floating on the surface of the water.  At the base of the pinyon-juniper woodlands, we found western wood-pewees, waxwings, and a black-headed grosbeak.  Join us tomorrow for a hummingbird study in the West Buttermilk area!

Species List: 

Canada Goose
Mallard
Wild Turkey
Rock Pigeon
Eurasian Collared-Dove
Mourning Dove
Black-chinned Hummingbird
Broad-tailed Hummingbird
Killdeer
Osprey
Bald Eagle
Red-tailed Hawk
Belted Kingfisher
Lewis’s Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Western Wood-Pewee
Black-billed Magpie
Common Raven
Violet-green Swallow
Black-capped Chickadee
White-breasted Nuthatch
House Wren
American Robin
Gray Catbird
European Starling
Cedar Waxwing
American Goldfinch
Spotted Towhee
Red-winged Blackbird
Yellow Warbler
Black-headed Grosbeak

 

 

 

~ Rebecca Weiss, ACES Bird Guide

Photo by Dale Armstrong