Hope and Manning May 1

[Chris]

On the drive up to Hope just before the sign that says Herrling Island turn off, there was a Say’s Phoebe flycatching on the highway barrier. As I was turning to go onto the north side of the Airport I spotted a Townsend’s Solitaire. There were two more further up. Just on the north side I counted 13 of them! Most of them were on the fence but some were in the trees or power lines. I would count six more on the south side of the Airport for a total of 19! I had only seen three in my bird watching career before today. Here are the pictures of some of the Solitaires.











Also on the north side of the airport was this male Mountain Bluebird

I took this from my car. For some reason I have a difficult time getting decent pictures from my car.



I parked on the southeast side of the airport and walked the whole south side of the airport. There were a lot of Yellow-rumped Warblers, probably about 100. I kept listening and looking for other species but only saw/heard two Orange-crowned Warblers. The trees still don’t have their leaves so it’s easy to spot the warblers.

One of the Rufous Hummingbirds



There were a lot of species of sparrows, I saw Lincoln’s, Savannah, White-crowned and Song. There was an American Kestrel as well.



One of the many Yellow-rumped Warblers



I drove east on the north side of the airport and came to the first stop sign and walked east along the road. There was more warbler diversity in this area. I heard a few Black-throated Gray Warblers calling, there was also one Townsend’s Warbler calling and a few Orange-crowned among the many Yellow-rumped Warblers. Just as I was heading back to my car I heard a Nashville Warbler calling. Just to confirm it I waited for a few second so I could observe it.

List for Hope Airport

1 American Kestrel
2 Rock Pigeon
6 Band-tailed Pigeon
7 Rufous Hummingbird
2 Northern Flicker
4 Steller's Jay
10 Black-capped Chickadee
1 Red-breasted Nuthatch
30 Ruby-crowned Kinglet
1 Mountain Bluebird
19 Townsend's Solitaire
25 American Robin
5 Varied Thrush
7 Orange-crowned Warbler
1 Nashville Warbler
150 Yellow-rumped Warbler
5 Black-throated Gray Warbler
1 Townsend's Warbler
8 Spotted Towhee
11 Savannah Sparrow
4 Lincoln's Sparrow
20 White-crowned Sparrow
15 Dark-eyed Junco
5 Pine Siskin

I drove up to Manning where I saw a bear and two deer. There is still a lot of snow. Sumallo Grove was closed due to snow. The only area I birded was near East Gate.

One of the Mountain Chickadees



This Red-naped Sapsucker made a brief appearance



Otherwise Manning was extremely quiet bird wise.

Manning East Gate list

2 Bufflehead
1 Red-naped Sapsucker
1 Hairy Woodpecker
3 American Crow
2 Common Raven
6 Mountain Chickadee
1 Red-breasted Nuthatch
6 Ruby-crowned Kinglet
8 American Robin
4 Yellow-rumped Warbler
1 Fox Sparrow
2 Song Sparrow
2 Lincoln's Sparrow
25 White-crowned Sparrow
1 Red-winged Blackbird
3 Cassin's Finch

[Dave]

Nice report, Chris. Good start on the monthly list . That is a lot of Solitaires!

[Chris]

Thanks Dave.

The amount of Solitaires surprised me intially but then I thought with this weather it makes sense. I may have counted a few of them twice.