Morning Birding Species List | August 27, 2019

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Tuesday, August 27, 2019, 7:30AM – 10:30AM
Weather: Sunny
Location: Hallam Lake & Aspen Community Garden

Species Identified

Mallard Canada Goose Mallard Broad-tailed Hummingbird Spotted Sandpiper Great Blue Heron Western Wood-Pewee Woodhouse’s Scrub-Jay Black-billed Magpie American Crow Violet-green Swallow Mountain Chickadee House Wren American Robin Cedar Waxwing House Finch Green-tailed Towhee Chipping Sparrow Song Sparrow Orange-crowned Warbler MacGillivray’s Warbler Yellow Warbler Yellow-rumped Warbler (Audubon’s)

 

Comments:

Mornings are getting cooler and birds are flocking and feeding in typical fall behaviors. Food is everything at this point in the season, and birds are found where concentrations of food exist. At Hallam Lake we observed birds feeding on the abundant airborne insect life, such as cedar waxwings, yellow-rumped warblers, western wood-pewees, all of which were fly-catching from perches fairly high in the trees. A spotted sandpiper, sans spots, was resting on an island of rocks in the lake, allowing us a luxurious study of its non-breeding appearance. Yellow-rumped warblers were the topic of today’s mini lesson, and their under-tail black and white pattern was visible on the fly-catching birds at a distance. This allowed us to clinch their identification when other field marks were difficult to discern. At the Aspen Community Garden, many birds were feasting on raspberries, notably the green-tailed townees. An orange-crowned warbler foraging in thick foliage gave us some excellent looks at its subtle field marks. Most of the hummingbirds today were female and juvenile broad-tailed; most of the males seem to have migrated with a just few remaining. Join us next week at Rock Bottom Ranch for more migration excitement! September Morning Birding hours are still 7:30am – 10:30am.

~ Rebecca Weiss, ACES Bird Guide 

 

Photo by Dale Armstrong