Morning Birding at Rock Bottom Ranch Species List

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Tuesday, September 1, 2020 7:30AM – 10:30AM
Weather:  Sunny and cool.
Location: Rock Bottom Ranch

Species Identified:

Canada Goose
Mallard
Eurasian Collared-Dove
Hummingbird sp.
Sora
Shorebird sp.
Osprey
Cooper’s Hawk
Belted Kingfisher
Lewis’s Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Western Wood-Pewee
Woodhouse’s Scrub-Jay
Black-billed Magpie
American Crow
Violet-green Swallow
Barn Swallow
Black-capped Chickadee
White-breasted Nuthatch
House Wren
American Robin
Gray Catbird
European Starling
Cedar Waxwing
House Finch
American Goldfinch
Song Sparrow
MacGillivray’s Warbler
Yellow Warbler
Wilson’s Warbler

Comments:

 

Flocks of western wood-pewees and Wilson’s warblers were especially active in the shrub understory and riparian areas as well as in brush piles and fencerows today at the ranch.  Adult starlings were seen in non-breeding plumage as well as a juvenile that was in mid-molt.  A family of Lewis’s woodpeckers was active near the parking lot.  Swallows have mostly left the upper valley at this point, although they are still numerous in the mid-valley.  We saw a large mixed flock of violet-greens and barns foraging over the ranch this morning.  A particular highlight was a pair of soras that were foraging along the edge of the cattails that ring the pond by the bird blind.  They stayed in view for around 10 minutes, allowing us to get familiar with their field marks and behavior.  Our mini lesson focused on fall migration:  an estimated 5 billion birds migrate in the fall in North America, a high number bolstered by the young of the year.  Examples of birds that migrate during the day include pelicans, hawks, falcons, hummingbirds, and swifts.  Those that migrate during the night include warblers, flycatchers, orioles, thrushes, and blackbirds.  Join us on Thursday for a birding field trip in the Gorge of the Roaring Fork!

 

~ Rebecca Weiss, ACES Bird Guide

Photo by Mark Fuller