Monday, July 28, 2014

The Monitor Range, July 7-8

In early July, the NBC crew and I headed to the Barley and Cottonwood Creek trailheads, for a couple of days of exploration, to wrap up the birding portion of our field season, and to prep for our habitat surveys a little downstream.  It was a beautiful area; in fact, one of my long-time surveyors said that his transect there along Cottonwood Creek might be his favorite in the state!  For such a beautiful site, sadly we have a dearth of photos, for one reason or another.  However, here are a few, along with our species list for our time there.  Species for which we obtained breeding confirmation are noted accordingly.  
 
One of my highlights of the season was up Barley Creek, in a very active and vocal MacGillivray’s Warbler territory.  I watched the male flitting low among the willows, and heard a call note low down next to me –  I peered downward to see a very young, very short-tailed MacGillivray’s Warbler fledgling about 2 feet from my right foot.  I watched it for awhile then moved on – the fledgling showed no evident stress, but the male was definitely not pleased with how close I was to his offspring!  

Hope you enjoy the list:
 
Cooper’s Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Common Poorwill
Broad-tailed Hummingbird
Red-naped Sapsucker (Confirmed Breeding)
Hairy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker (Confirmed Breeding)
Gray Flycatcher
Dusky Flycatcher (Confirmed Breeding)
Plumbeous Vireo
Warbling Vireo (Confirmed Breeding)
Western Scrub-Jay (Confirmed Breeding)
Clark’s Nutcracker
Common Raven
Violet-green Swallow
Mountain Chickadee (Confirmed Breeding)
Juniper Titmouse
Bushtit (Confirmed Breeding)
Red-breasted Nuthatch
White-breasted Nuthatch
Rock Wren (Confirmed Breeding)
Bewick’s Wren
House Wren  (Confirmed Breeding)
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Mountain Bluebird
Townsend’s Solitaire (Confirmed Breeding)
Hermit Thrush
American Robin (Confirmed Breeding)
Orange-crowned Warbler
MacGillivray’s Warbler (Confirmed Breeding)
Yellow Warbler  (Confirmed Breeding)
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Confirmed Breeding)
Black-throated Gray Warbler (Confirmed Breeding)
Yellow-breasted Chat
Green-tailed Towhee (Confirmed Breeding)
Spotted Towhee (Confirmed Breeding)
Chipping Sparrow (Confirmed Breeding)
Brewer’s Sparrow
Black-throated Sparrow
Fox Sparrow (Confirmed Breeding)
Song Sparrow (Confirmed Breeding)
White-crowned Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Western Tanager
Black-headed Grosbeak (Confirmed Breeding)
Lazuli Bunting
Western Meadowlark
Brewer’s Blackbird
Brown-headed Cowbird
Cassin’s Finch (Confirmed Breeding)
Lesser Goldfinch

Happy birding,
Jen

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