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I birded Brighton Ski Area all day
today. The woods were lovely, so I birded slowly. Wait a minute--I
always bird slowly. Here's what I saw:
Around Silver Lake:
Lincoln's, White-crowned, Song, Chipping, and Fox
Sparrows
MacGillivray's Warbler
Lazuli Bunting
Broad-tailed Hummingbird
Pine Siskin
Mallard
California Gull
Common Raven
American Robin
Cliff Swallow
On the Lake Solitude Trail
Bob Huntington
Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers, Northern Flicker,
Red-naped Sapsucker
Turkey Vulture
Clark's Nutcracker, Steller's Jay
Hermit Thrush
Western Tanager
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Mountain Chickadee
Cordilleran Flycatcher (heard only)
Red-breasted Nuthatch
Audubon's Yellow-rumped Warbler
Gray-headed Dark-eyed Junco
Warbling Vireo
Black-chinned Hummingbird (heard only)
Olive-sided Flycatcher
Empidonax sp. (the flycatchers were very quiet
today--saw many--they must know I can't ID them unless they call)
On the Twin Lakes Trail
Some of those mentioned above, plus:
Western Wood-pewee
Green-tailed Towhee (heard only)
Tree Swallow
And my rewards at the top of this
trail:
Pine Grosbeak (a male and female)
White-throated Swift (three over Twin
Lakes)
The hike to the spot where I saw the grosbeaks and
the swifts was strenuous. Many of you are familiar with it. The
Twin Lakes Trail is only about a mile long, but rises 730 feet in elevation
(8730 feet at Silver Lake to 9460 at Twin Lakes). The pair of grosbeaks
were in fir trees on both sides of the trail as it continued up past the right
side of the dam and about 200 feet past a small, new log building. The
swifts were over the water.
Kris
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