Post by tmanson on Sept 28, 2008 16:03:57 GMT -8
Hi all: Had an interesting birding day at Manning, yesterday, with Harvey and Marjorie from Phoenix, Arizona.
We started off at the lodge, and had good looks at a perching LEWIS' WOODPECKER, amongst the usual robins, nutcrackers, and ravens.
From there, we headed up to the Spruce Bay campground area to look for Murray's goshawk. It didn't appear to be in the area at the time, and we observed, instead, AUDUBON'S WARBLER, DARK EYED JUNCO, and a pair of COMMON GOLDENEYE. On the Spruce Bay inland trail back to the parking lot, we spied a VARIED THRUSH, a THREE TOED WOODPECKER, and RED BREASTED NUTHATCH.
At Strawberry Flats, we managed to call in a BOREAL CHICKADEE, and also saw HAIRY WOODPECKER, and GOLDEN CROWNED KINGLET.
Moved on to Beaver Pond, where there was NORTHERN SHOVELER, and BROWN CREEPER.
Up to the sub-alpine from there, at the lookout, where, thanks to a supply of unsalted peanuts, Marjorie, and Harvey had super close looks at CLARKE'S NUTCRACKER, GREY JAY, and COMMON RAVEN. Also, at this site, we had our first looks of the day at a SOOTY GROUSE.
We moved on to the Heather Trail, and on the descent towards Buckhorn Camp, we saw 3 or 4 RED TAILED HAWKS. We were looking at a fifth one, when we, more or less, collectively, said: " that's not a red-tailed ". The buteo was hovering over an open area in an obvious hunting mode, and this behaviour, combined with fairly close, sun-on looks at distinguishing marks, led us to the conclusion of ROUGH LEGGED HAWK. I had some doubts based on time-of-year, but further research revealed that migration for this bird can start in August. Nevertheless, I would be interested in hearing from other birders whether they have encountered this bird this early.
Shortly after, we found a family grouping of three SOOTY GROUSE. I would be tempted to say one of them looked more like a dusky, but they were clearly a family unit, so, I won't!!
As we were examing these birds, as Marjorie was looking for a Dusky, as a lifer, we ran into a fellow hiker, who said she was a wildlife biologist. She told us that, just this side of Buckhorn Camp she had seen WHITE TAILED PTARMIGAN. I was a little skeptical of the location, but, when I asked for a description of the bird, she nailed it. She also said that on the other side, up on the plateau, she saw a GRIZZLY SOW, with two cubs. Wow!!. We rushed down towards Buckhorn Camp, but saw no sign of the ptarmigan. I have to admit that some of the habitat in this area resembled ground Brent, Carolynn, and I had found White tailed Ptarmigan on, a few years back. I would have loved to check out the Grizzly, but it was already 5:30, and I was a little concerned about getting Harvey, and Marjorie back to car by dark.
As we approached the parking lot, in the fading light, we saw our fifth SOOTY GROUSE of the day.
Conspicuous absences of the day were any kind of sparrow. I think we may have seen a few, but they were darting from cover to cover, and weren't responding to any pishing!! Cheers, Thor
Thor Manson
Hope, B.C.
We started off at the lodge, and had good looks at a perching LEWIS' WOODPECKER, amongst the usual robins, nutcrackers, and ravens.
From there, we headed up to the Spruce Bay campground area to look for Murray's goshawk. It didn't appear to be in the area at the time, and we observed, instead, AUDUBON'S WARBLER, DARK EYED JUNCO, and a pair of COMMON GOLDENEYE. On the Spruce Bay inland trail back to the parking lot, we spied a VARIED THRUSH, a THREE TOED WOODPECKER, and RED BREASTED NUTHATCH.
At Strawberry Flats, we managed to call in a BOREAL CHICKADEE, and also saw HAIRY WOODPECKER, and GOLDEN CROWNED KINGLET.
Moved on to Beaver Pond, where there was NORTHERN SHOVELER, and BROWN CREEPER.
Up to the sub-alpine from there, at the lookout, where, thanks to a supply of unsalted peanuts, Marjorie, and Harvey had super close looks at CLARKE'S NUTCRACKER, GREY JAY, and COMMON RAVEN. Also, at this site, we had our first looks of the day at a SOOTY GROUSE.
We moved on to the Heather Trail, and on the descent towards Buckhorn Camp, we saw 3 or 4 RED TAILED HAWKS. We were looking at a fifth one, when we, more or less, collectively, said: " that's not a red-tailed ". The buteo was hovering over an open area in an obvious hunting mode, and this behaviour, combined with fairly close, sun-on looks at distinguishing marks, led us to the conclusion of ROUGH LEGGED HAWK. I had some doubts based on time-of-year, but further research revealed that migration for this bird can start in August. Nevertheless, I would be interested in hearing from other birders whether they have encountered this bird this early.
Shortly after, we found a family grouping of three SOOTY GROUSE. I would be tempted to say one of them looked more like a dusky, but they were clearly a family unit, so, I won't!!
As we were examing these birds, as Marjorie was looking for a Dusky, as a lifer, we ran into a fellow hiker, who said she was a wildlife biologist. She told us that, just this side of Buckhorn Camp she had seen WHITE TAILED PTARMIGAN. I was a little skeptical of the location, but, when I asked for a description of the bird, she nailed it. She also said that on the other side, up on the plateau, she saw a GRIZZLY SOW, with two cubs. Wow!!. We rushed down towards Buckhorn Camp, but saw no sign of the ptarmigan. I have to admit that some of the habitat in this area resembled ground Brent, Carolynn, and I had found White tailed Ptarmigan on, a few years back. I would have loved to check out the Grizzly, but it was already 5:30, and I was a little concerned about getting Harvey, and Marjorie back to car by dark.
As we approached the parking lot, in the fading light, we saw our fifth SOOTY GROUSE of the day.
Conspicuous absences of the day were any kind of sparrow. I think we may have seen a few, but they were darting from cover to cover, and weren't responding to any pishing!! Cheers, Thor
Thor Manson
Hope, B.C.
