Morning Birding Species List | July 18, 2017

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Tuesday, July 18, 2017, 6:30AM – 9:30AM
Weather: mostly sunny
Location: Rock Bottom Ranch and Hooks Spur Road

Species Identified
Canada Goose Mallard Great Blue Heron Turkey Vulture Osprey Red-tailed Hawk Killdeer Eurasian-collared Dove Mourning Dove Black-chinned Hummingbird Broad-tailed Hummingbird Lewis’s Woodpecker (pictured above) Downy Woodpecker		Northern Flicker American Kestrel Western Wood-peewee Cordilleran Flycatcher Western Kingbird Woodhouse’s Scrub-jay Black-billed Magpie American Crow Tree Swallow Violet-green Swallow Black-capped Chickadee White-breasted Nuthatch House Wren		American Robin European Starling Cedar Waxwing Yellow Warbler Spotted Towhee Song Sparrow Black-headed Grosbeak Red-winged Blackbird Brown-headed Cowbird House Finch Lesser Goldfinch American Goldfinch

Comments:

This time of year is excellent for local bird diversity as well as for rich behavioral observations. A black-chinned hummingbird perched on a snag along the Buckhorn trail in pinyon-juniper habitat  gave us a great chance to study its field marks and see the purple iridescence of its throat patch which is far less often seen than the scarlet iridescence of the broad-tailed hummingbird. We also studied juvenile and adult Woodhouse’s scrub-jays to make interesting comparisons between their plumages, and the similar American and lesser goldfinches side-by-side. Our bird of prey sightings included four species, and we also learned a different vocalization made by the cordilleran flycatcher when it is aggressively chasing off an intruder into its territory. Along Hooks Spur Road as we left the ranch, we observed Lewis’s woodpeckers in two locations. Lots of rich learning this morning!  Join us next Tuesday at Hallam Lake for a special field trip to a residence at West Buttermilk where we will do a hummingbird study.

~ Rebecca Weiss, ACES Bird Guide 

 

Photo by Dale Armstrong