Morning Birding Species List | September 22, 2015


ACES Staff

September 23, 2015

Morning Birding Species List | September 22, 2015

Tuesday, September 22, 2015, 7:30AM – 10:30AM
Weather: overcast
Location: Hallam Lake and Aspen Community Garden/Marolt

Species Identified        

Mallard
Great Blue Heron
Red-tailed Hawk
Northern Flicker
Steller’s Jay
Black-billed Magpie
American Crow
Black-capped Chickadee
Mountain Chickadee

 

White-breasted Nuthatch
Brown Creeper
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
American Robin
Song Sparrow
Lincoln’s Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Pine Siskin
American Goldfinch

Comments:

 

A low-pressure system moved in overnight, giving us a lovely overcast morning with bird activity fitting the conditions: seed-eaters were active, and many insect-eaters were waiting out the weather until sun and warmth re-activates their insect food. A juvenile great blue heron gave us a spectacular flight display followed by stealthy hunting moves in shallow water. It was a good opportunity to study the juvenile’s plumage differences; putting that together with its amateur hunting style, it was exciting to see this young bird getting the hang of independent life. A brown creeper was another highlight, as it foraged head-up on cottonwood trunks. Although relatively quiet in terms of bird voices, we were able to focus on some calls, and foraging chatter alerted us to flocks of goldfinches and pine siskins. Lastly, we touched on a question from a previous session about aggressiveness in hummingbirds outside of breeding season: the answer seems to be that they live on the edge of starvation constantly, thus they are highly motivated to ‘hog up’ food resources where they encounter other hummingbirds year-round in their solitary lifestyle.  Nature never fails to amaze and fascinate us!

~ Rebecca Weiss, ACES Bird Guide

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