[Birdtalk] Brighton Birding

[STEPHEN T CARLILE]

After reading Tim's post on his Brighton birding with the Sommerfeld's I thought it would give it a try today.  So I did the Brighton Silver Lake, to Twin Lakes, to Lake Solitude, and back to Brighton loop, though I am sure this older and more out of shape guy took it a little slower than Tim and company.  The most active birding was between Twin Lakes and Lake Solitude.  I didn't see the full list that Tim did, but I did see:

1.  Red Crossbills (no White-winged), ten or more flying back and forth in the trees.  The crossbills were on the trail after Twin Lakes, that goes west past the "turn-off" down to Lake Solitude, just before the steep rise begins to the ski lift building.  After craning my neck watching them fly around, I sat down to rest (I did that a lot) and they landed 20 feet from me and began "eating" snow.  While "resting" I also had a Chipping Sparrow at my feet looking for insects.

2.  Four woodpecker species - Northern Flicker (5), Hairy (1), Red-napped Sapsucker (1), and Williamson's Sapsucker (3).  A female Williamson's Sapsucker was about 100 yards up the trail west of Twin Lakes.  A pair of Williamson's was seen as the trail drops down to Lake Solitude.  There was a lot of dark woodpecker fly-bys and "drumming" going on, but since I couldn't sort the fly-bys and drumming out I can only assume that a Northern Three-toed was also there.

3.  Clark's Nutcracker (6+) were very visible and noisy on "top".  Several within 50 feet for some good looks.

A total of 29 species seen.  Here is the list.

Mallard (5)
Red-tailed Hawk (1)
Spotted Sandpiper (2)
Broad-tailed Hummingbird (6+)
Northern Flicker (5)
Hairy Woodpecker (1)
Red-naped Sapsucker (1)
Williamson's Sapsucker (3)
Olive-sided Flycatcher (5)
Western Wood Peewee (2)
Cordilleran Flycatcher (1)
Warbling Vireo (1 + plus several audibles)
Steller's Jay (5)
Clark's Nutcracker (6+)
Cliff Swallow (5)
Violet Green Swallow (12+)
Mountain Chickadee (1)
Red-breasted Nuthatch (2 + several audibles)
Rock Wren (1 at the Twin Lakes ski lift area)
Ruby-crowned Kinglet (2)
American Robin (12+)
Hermit Thrush (1 + several audibles)
Yellow Warbler (1 lower down the canyon)
Yellow-rumped Warbler (1)
Lincoln Sparrow (5 + several audbiles)
White-crowned Sparrow (2)
Chipping Sparrow (6+)
Red Crossbill (10)
Cassin's Finch (2 + several audilbes)

Thanks,

Stephen
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