Morning Birding Species List | July 31, 2018

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Tuesday, July 31, 2018, 7:00AM – 10:00AM
Weather: Sunny
Location: Hallam Lake and Aspen Community Garden

Species Identified

Mallard Black-chinned Hummingbird Broad-tailed Hummingbird Great Blue Heron Sharp-shinned Hawk Belted Kingfisher Cordilleran Flycatcher Steller’s Jay Black-billed Magpie American Crow Violet-green Swallow Black-capped Chickadee Mountain Chickadee White-breasted Nuthatch House Wren Ruby-crowned Kinglet American Robin Cedar Waxwing House Finch Pine Siskin Green-tailed Towhee Vesper Sparrow Lark Sparrow Song Sparrow Red-winged Blackbird Yellow Warbler

Comments: 

An abundance of birds today is evidence of the pulse of fledglings joining adult birds on the wing this season. Adult birds were building nests (waxwings), carrying food (robins), and feeding fledglings (song sparrow, robin, pine siskin). A highlight at Hallam Lake was observing a mass exodus of 50+ Violet-green Swallows followed by the swift flight of a Sharp-shinned Hawk that was being chased by an American Crow. Another highlight this morning was the sparrow study at the Community Garden, where small flocks of Lark Sparrows and what appeared to be Vesper Sparrows were resting and feeding in shrubs just outside the garden fence. Juvenile Green-tailed Towhees patrolled the garden rows on the ground, while Song Sparrows darted between the shrubs and ground. We also had great looks at male and female Black-chinned and Broad-tailed Hummingbirds. We compared wing trilling between the two species as well as tail patterns between males and females.  

Today’s mini-lesson focused on the breeding biology of Sharp-shinned Hawks, based on a stellar photo of an active nest photographed by an ACES Naturalist/Educator near Independence Pass. We also looked at Birds of North America, and online resource by Cornell Lat of Ornithology that Pitkin County Library subscribes to…  go to this link, then under ‘Library Collection’ select ‘Research,’ then ‘Research A-Z,’ then select ‘B,’ then under Birds of North America, select ‘Access outside of the library.’ Then you will be prompted to enter your library card #. Next, you will be in Birds of North America, where you can type in the common name of any bird and find current, in-depth, discussions for any North American species, citing scientific literature and studies.

Join us next Tuesday at 7:30am at Hallam Lake for more exciting summer birding!

~ Rebecca Weiss, ACES Bird Guide 

Photo by Ben Seipel