[Birdtalk] Pine Grosbeak, WW Crossbill, etc - Brighton

[Tim Avery]

This morning (06/06) Jeff Bilsky and I hiked from Silver Lake up to Twin
Lakes and down the maintenence road to Brighton.  Despite the cool temps and
the even cooler wind there was a lot of bird activity and a few FOY species
for the Brighton area (at least for Bilsky and myself).  Lots of Fox and
Lincoln's Sparrows as well as Spotted Sandpipers around Silver Lake. Heading
up the trail to Twin Lakes there wasn't a whole lot until we passed the rock
face over looking Silver Lake. From the trail here we heard a single RED
CROSSBILL calling as it flew through the trees. As soon as we came out onto
the flat just above this area in the spruce and aspen things started to pick
up.  OLIVE-SIDED FLYCATCHER and WESTERN WOOD-PEWEE were both singing, and
Jeff spotted a CORDILLERAN FLYCATCHER feeding a couple feet off the ground.
The COFL was very cooperative and I was able to ge t a few nice shots.
While I was photographing it I heard a PINE GROSBEAK call.  We ended up
hearing 2 singing and I got some shots of one while he sang just over our
heads in an Aspen.  There were a few CLARK'S NUTCRACKER on the ridgetops,
and they were making a bit of noise most of the time.

There were lots of Pine Siskin, Chipping Sparrow, Juncos, as well as
Red-breasted Nuthatch, Mountain Chickadee and Yellow-rumped Warbler on the
way up to Twin Lakes which had large patches of ice still floating in the
water. Hikind down we encountered lots of Western Tanager, a pair of
MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRD, and most of the previously mentioned species.  We walked
the road down into the residential area below the lake, and heard a single
WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILL call and sing but never was able to get a visual on
the bird.

Here are the pictures from this morning:

http://www.timaverybirding.com/photos/thumbnails.php?album=587&page=1&sort=na&id=ubir

And a complete list of sightings from this morning:

Location: Brighton--Twin Lakes
Observation date: 6/6/09
Number of species: 34

Mallard 2
Red-tailed Hawk 1
Spotted Sandpiper 4
Mourning Dove 3
Broad-tailed Hummingbird 8
Northern Flicker (Red-shafted) 5
Olive-sided Flycatcher 2
Western Wood-Pewee 2
Cordilleran Flycatcher 2
Warbling Vireo 7
Steller's Jay 3
Clark's Nutcracker 5
Common Raven 2
Violet-green Swallow 15
Cliff Swallow 2
Mountain Chickadee 11
Red-breasted Nuthatch 6
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 6
Mountain Bluebird 2
Hermit Thrush 3
American Robin 20
Orange-crowned Warbler 2
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Audubon's) 5
Western Tanager 7
Chipping Sparrow 14
Fox Sparrow (Slate-colored) 4
Lincoln's Sparrow 6
White-crowned Sparrow (Mountain) 5
Dark-eyed Junco (Gray-headed) 4
Pine Grosbeak 2
Cassin's Finch 4
Red Crossbill 1
White-winged Crossbill 1
Pine Siskin 50

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

Good Birding

Tim
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