[Birdtalk] 7/8 - Silver Lake, Twin Lakes, Lake Solitude (WHITE WINGED CROSSBILLS)

[Jeff Bilsky]

I decided to see if I could see some of the reported species up Big
Cottonwood this evening. I started by hiking past Silver Lake and up to Twin
Lakes. On the way I get a great look at a very curious GREEN TAILED TOWHEE.
The South side of Twin Lakes was active with several CLARKS NUTCRACKERS,
MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRDS, and an OLIVE SIDED FLYCATCHER among other expected
species. I then hiked down the mountain and through the snow to Lake
Solitude. It was fun sliding down the snow even if I almost bit it several
times. Not much to report on the way down towards Solitude or at Solitude
itself. However, heading back towards Silver Lake I ran across a nice female
WILLIAMSON'S SAPSUCKER and then I saw a pair (male and a likely female - I
got a better look at the male) of WHITE WINGED CROSS BILLS! They wouldn't
sit still long enough for me to get a pic, but I was able to distinctly make
out the wing bars, coloration and size. I will likely be going back to try
to track them down again soon - and find some of the other birds hiding up
there (Pine Grosbeak).


Location:     Big Cottonwood Canyon
Observation date:     7/8/08
Number of species:     21

Mallard     X
Broad-tailed Hummingbird     X
Williamson's Sapsucker     1
Northern Flicker     1
Olive-sided Flycatcher     5
Warbling Vireo     X
Steller's Jay     4
Clark's Nutcracker     5
Violet-green Swallow     X
Mountain Chickadee     X
Red-breasted Nuthatch     X
Mountain Bluebird     2
Hermit Thrush     X
American Robin     X
Yellow-rumped Warbler     X
Green-tailed Towhee     1
Chipping Sparrow     X
Fox Sparrow (Slate-colored)     1
Dark-eyed Junco (Gray-headed)     X
White-winged Crossbill     2
Pine Siskin     X

This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)


MAMMALS IDENTIFIED:
Western Red Squirrel
Moose
Mule Deer
American Pika
Yellow-bellied Marmot
Uinta Ground Squirrel
Humans (juvenile and adult)

-- 
Jeff Bilsky
Salt Lake City
jbilsky at gmail.com
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://secureserver.securesites.net/pipermail/birdtalk/attachments/20080708/a7281137/attachment.htm