[Birdtalk] Crosbills, Peckers, and Grosbeaks Oh My!

[Tim Avery]

Today was one of those days where all the cards seemed to have just fallen in
place.  I left Salt Lake around 6:30 this morning for a 250 mile loop up to the
Mirror Lake Highway, then to Woodruff/Desert Ranch, stopping next at Monte
Cristo before coming down to I-15 and heading back to Salt Lake.  The plan was
to tick off the majority of the sub-alpine breeders I hadn’t yet seen this
year, and thanks to reports from Kris Purdy, Jack Binch, Colby Neuman, and of
course the Beyer's for the initial find of a White-winged Crossbill, I had a
good plan and hit the road with it.

I made several stops along the Mirror Lake Highway on my way to Bald Mountain. 
The morning was filled with song and I picked up Golden-crowned Kinglet, and
Townsend's Solitaire for the month as well as several other high elevation
birds.  My first serious stop was at the Washington Lake Group Area, where the
Beyer's made their find earlier in the week.  As soon as I stepped out of the
car I heard what sounded like an AMERICAN THREE-TOED WOODPECKER calling.  After
searching for a minute or two I found a female near the top of a dead snag. 
Before I was finished in the area, I ended up seeing 3 ATTW's, including 2
males.

http://timaverybirding.com/photos/june07/attw_01.jpg (male)
http://timaverybirding.com/photos/june07/attw_02.jpg (showing yellow patch)
http://timaverybirding.com/photos/june07/attw_03.jpg (female)

I also had one flock of RED CROSSBILL's fly over while in the area, and a GRAY
JAY to make things interesting.  I birded a little around the regular
campground, but a lot of people were up and milling about, so I moved on.  I
stopped at the Bald Mountain view area, where nothing much was happening,
before continuing up the road to the Bald Mountain Pass, and trailhead.  Before
I made it that far, about 250 yards before the road to the trailhead I looked
over and saw a female PINE GROSBEAK feeding on the ground.  I pulled over and
took some time to get pictures of it.  2 males could be heard singing to the
north of the road.

http://timaverybirding.com/photos/june07/pigr_01.jpg
http://timaverybirding.com/photos/june07/pigr_02.jpg

I pulled into the trailhead area and just walked around the edges of the trees. 
Plenty of RED CROSSBILL's were flying over the area and between stands of
spruce.  After about 35 minutes a flock of about 20 Red's flew over me, with
one immature WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILL calling away, making it stand out against
the Red's.  I spent some more time lingering around hoping another flock would
come over.  While I was waiting I heard what I distinctly thought was a
White-winged Crossbill singing to the northwest towards the peak.  I grabbed my
cameras and took off to look for it.  Every time I got within about 20 feet I
would hear it starting to sing from another spot.  After chasing for about 5
trees I gave up and just turned on my recorder to try to capture the song.  I
will upload and post it later tonight.  I spent some time with my scope
scanning the snow fields for BLACK ROSY-FINCH, and saw several birds buzzing
around , although at the distance, they could have been Pipit's for all I know.
 Luckily near the pass I had a male fly over from one drift to another,
providing great looks.

Satisfied with the birds I found I headed to Evanston and then up towards
Woodruff.  I turned onto the road that winds through Deseret Ranch hoping that
a Lark Bunting maybe hanging around somewhere
 No such luck.  I did have 2
WILSON's PHALAROPE on the ranch, and a surprising GRASSHOPPER SPARROW singing
along the road out to the north.  In Woodruff I had 2 COMMON GRACKLE, and I
made a quick trip back down HWY 89 a couple miles where I had a BLACK TERN, as
well as a FORSTER'S TERN and a number of other water birds.

Finally, I made my way up towards Monte Cristo Campground making a stop at one
of the locations where Kris Purdy had posted about PURPLE MARTINS.   I managed
to find her tell-tale "pink tape" and along with it, 4 Martins
 Here are a few
shots:

http://timaverybirding.com/photos/june07/puma_01.jpg (female in flight)
http://timaverybirding.com/photos/june07/puma_02.jpg (at cavity)
http://timaverybirding.com/photos/june07/puma_03.jpg (perched)
http://timaverybirding.com/photos/june07/puma_04.jpg (male perched)
http://timaverybirding.com/photos/june07/puma_05.jpg (male in flight)
http://timaverybirding.com/photos/june07/puma_06.jpg (female in flight)

I next made my way to the location of the WILLIAMSON'S SAPSUCKER nest along HWY
39.  I found the male bird and snapped a few shots, before heading to the
campground to take a look around.

http://timaverybirding.com/photos/june07/wisa_01.jpg
http://timaverybirding.com/photos/june07/wisa_02.jpg
http://timaverybirding.com/photos/june07/wisa_03.jpg

Using Kris's again excellent directions I found the ATTW nest.  It sounded like
it might have had 2 or 3 chicks begging.  Several times the adult female
returned to the nest with food.  She wouldn’t come in while I was with 30 feet
so I went back to my car and drove around the loop about 100 feet off and set
up my scope.  She came in 2 times in the next 20 minutes and I shot a little
bit of video which I will post this evening.

http://timaverybirding.com/photos/june07/attw_04.jpg (female)

All in all a fantastic day, adding both crossbills, the grosbeak, 2 woodpeckers,
the tern, the jay and the martin to my year list.  The highlight being
White-winged Crosbill, my 300th species of the year!

Good Birding, and thanks to all who have been posting!

Tim
tanager at timaverybirding.com
http://www.timaverybirding.com
Salt Lake City, Utah