Post by Gord on Sept 8, 2006 14:35:55 GMT -8
I had a chance to go up Cheam Mountain, to which I jumped at the chance.
I left Chilliwack at 6:30 and started walking at about 8:30 (made a couple stops on the way up on the last quarter of the drive). Weather was nice until I got near the top where I could smell smoke from the fire and the smoke reduced visibility on the surroundings.
First notable was the big flock of migrants, but more exciting, was the young sharp-shinned hawk that blasted in and chased a yellow-rumped warbler around. At one point, they flew past my knees at an incredible speed and not more than a foot away. WOW!!!
The warbler escaped and the hawk landed a ways down the trail to contemplate his mistakes. Also here was a Hammond's flycatcher (saw one down the road too in another flock). Im always hesitant to ID birds of this genus if they dont sing or call, but Im familiar with the species (studying them while they call) and all fieldmarks checked out as both being young Hammond's.
Heading down into Spoon Valley I caught a glimpse of a large accipiter and wondered if it was a northern goshawk that's been a 20+ yr elusive species for me. Also here was a pair of black-tailed deer running through the meadow.
Climbing out of the valley things got busy again, this time with sparrows and warblers. There were over 10 Lincoln's sparrows, a savannah sparrow, song sparrow white-crowned sparrow, MacGillvray's warbler, Wilson's warbler male along with many juncos and yellow-rumped warblers.
Just leaving the treed bit above Spoon Valley I could hear a northern pygmy-owl popping away back a little ways. A couple minutes later, a big hawk came flying out from the trees; right towards me! There was my goshawk finally (a juv). Only bummer was I fumbled the camera and missed a great picture as it went over not much more than 50 feet over my head!!! This would not be the last time we'd cross paths (assuming it was the same bird, it looked the same) as I'd catch sight of him bombing around at least 5 more times while I was up there. When it rains, it pours I guess.
I stopped for lunch on the 'landing' between Lady and Cheam Peaks. While I ate, I watched and heard lots of Am pipits, heard some horned larks, saw a olive-sided flycatcher at pretty close range (bit of a surprise) had 5 bank swallows fly in quite quickly and from a bit of a height from the northeast and circle around feeding for a bit, but moving to the southwest all the while. I also saw the goshawk again and a bit of raptor movement, all birds flying from northish to southish. Three Northern harriers, 2 sharp-shinned hawks, 1 Cooper's hawk, and 1 red-tailed hawk were seen in about 20 minutes.
Now, I was into ptarmigan zone and watched carefully as I went up. At the top, I came across a few horned larks feeding on the ground. A minute or two later I heard a BUNCH of larks and counted (or tried to count) over 50 of them. One of the larger flocks Ive seen. I didnt hear or see anything different among them (longspur, pipit, bunting et al) Also right at the top was a lonely looking mountain chickadee. It called a couple of times from the top of a stunted tree before hurling himself over the side (it looked that way anyway)
Horned Lark pictures
After poking around, I headed back down. Ptarmigan, (any game bird for that matter) I came up dry on. About half way down from the side of the trail right at my feet, I scared a grouse up who flew up very loudly and landed about 10 feet ahead of me on the trail itself. After I found and replaced my frantically beating heart, I snapped a couple pictures before it flew. I was tempted at first to say spruce grouse on it's plumage and size, but I think it's just a young blue grouse in moult. I think you can see how I thought it was a bit off as it has more pattern then an adult hen blue grouse does to me. A spruce grouse would be a good find. I ended up also seeing a blue grouse hen at the parking lot at the end.
A nice day up there as always. No bears this time! Surprised at no ptarmigan too. I wonder about my low cloud theory that Thor and I talked about last time we were up there. With all the hawks around, I wouldnt think it very safe to be out in the open without thick fog as cover. When we saw the 20+ covey, there was deep fog.
Species list:
4 Northern Harrier
1 Cooper's Hawk
3 Sharp-shinned Hawk
1 Northern Goshawk
1 Red-tailed Hawk
2 Blue Grouse
1 Northern Pygmy-Owl
26 Vaux's swift
3 Northern Flicker
1 Downy Woodpecker
2 Red-breasted Sapsucker
1 Olive-sided Flycatcher
2 Hammond's Flycatcher
6 Steller's Jay
4 Common Raven
50+ Horned Lark
5 Bank Swallow
1 Mountain Chickadee
2 Chestnut-backed Chickadee
4 Black-capped Chickadee
2 Winter Wren
6 Golden-crowned Kinglet
2 Ruby-crowned Kinglet
1 Townsend's Solitare
25+ American Robin
2 Hermit Thrush
40+ American Pipit
2 Orange-crowned Warbler
6 Townsend's Warbler
30+ Yellow-rumped Warber
2 MacGillvray's Warbler
1 Wilson's Warbler
1 Western Tanager
1 Song Sparrow
3 Savannah Sparrow
1 Fox Sparrow
12+ Lincoln's Sparrow
40+ Dark-eyed Junco
2 White-crowned Sparrow
1 Golden-crowned Sparrow
2 Varied Thrush
2 Purple Finch
3 Pine Sisken
5 Evening Grosbeak.
Also lots of butterflies. Aside from the pictures, I didnt get pictures of sulpher butterfly, tortoiseshell butterfly and the big white one with red dots on each wing (cant remember the name).
I left Chilliwack at 6:30 and started walking at about 8:30 (made a couple stops on the way up on the last quarter of the drive). Weather was nice until I got near the top where I could smell smoke from the fire and the smoke reduced visibility on the surroundings.
First notable was the big flock of migrants, but more exciting, was the young sharp-shinned hawk that blasted in and chased a yellow-rumped warbler around. At one point, they flew past my knees at an incredible speed and not more than a foot away. WOW!!!
The warbler escaped and the hawk landed a ways down the trail to contemplate his mistakes. Also here was a Hammond's flycatcher (saw one down the road too in another flock). Im always hesitant to ID birds of this genus if they dont sing or call, but Im familiar with the species (studying them while they call) and all fieldmarks checked out as both being young Hammond's.Heading down into Spoon Valley I caught a glimpse of a large accipiter and wondered if it was a northern goshawk that's been a 20+ yr elusive species for me. Also here was a pair of black-tailed deer running through the meadow.
Climbing out of the valley things got busy again, this time with sparrows and warblers. There were over 10 Lincoln's sparrows, a savannah sparrow, song sparrow white-crowned sparrow, MacGillvray's warbler, Wilson's warbler male along with many juncos and yellow-rumped warblers.
Just leaving the treed bit above Spoon Valley I could hear a northern pygmy-owl popping away back a little ways. A couple minutes later, a big hawk came flying out from the trees; right towards me! There was my goshawk finally (a juv). Only bummer was I fumbled the camera and missed a great picture as it went over not much more than 50 feet over my head!!! This would not be the last time we'd cross paths (assuming it was the same bird, it looked the same) as I'd catch sight of him bombing around at least 5 more times while I was up there. When it rains, it pours I guess.
I stopped for lunch on the 'landing' between Lady and Cheam Peaks. While I ate, I watched and heard lots of Am pipits, heard some horned larks, saw a olive-sided flycatcher at pretty close range (bit of a surprise) had 5 bank swallows fly in quite quickly and from a bit of a height from the northeast and circle around feeding for a bit, but moving to the southwest all the while. I also saw the goshawk again and a bit of raptor movement, all birds flying from northish to southish. Three Northern harriers, 2 sharp-shinned hawks, 1 Cooper's hawk, and 1 red-tailed hawk were seen in about 20 minutes.
Now, I was into ptarmigan zone and watched carefully as I went up. At the top, I came across a few horned larks feeding on the ground. A minute or two later I heard a BUNCH of larks and counted (or tried to count) over 50 of them. One of the larger flocks Ive seen. I didnt hear or see anything different among them (longspur, pipit, bunting et al) Also right at the top was a lonely looking mountain chickadee. It called a couple of times from the top of a stunted tree before hurling himself over the side (it looked that way anyway)
Horned Lark pictures
After poking around, I headed back down. Ptarmigan, (any game bird for that matter) I came up dry on. About half way down from the side of the trail right at my feet, I scared a grouse up who flew up very loudly and landed about 10 feet ahead of me on the trail itself. After I found and replaced my frantically beating heart, I snapped a couple pictures before it flew. I was tempted at first to say spruce grouse on it's plumage and size, but I think it's just a young blue grouse in moult. I think you can see how I thought it was a bit off as it has more pattern then an adult hen blue grouse does to me. A spruce grouse would be a good find. I ended up also seeing a blue grouse hen at the parking lot at the end.
A nice day up there as always. No bears this time! Surprised at no ptarmigan too. I wonder about my low cloud theory that Thor and I talked about last time we were up there. With all the hawks around, I wouldnt think it very safe to be out in the open without thick fog as cover. When we saw the 20+ covey, there was deep fog.
Species list:
4 Northern Harrier
1 Cooper's Hawk
3 Sharp-shinned Hawk
1 Northern Goshawk
1 Red-tailed Hawk
2 Blue Grouse
1 Northern Pygmy-Owl
26 Vaux's swift
3 Northern Flicker
1 Downy Woodpecker
2 Red-breasted Sapsucker
1 Olive-sided Flycatcher
2 Hammond's Flycatcher
6 Steller's Jay
4 Common Raven
50+ Horned Lark
5 Bank Swallow
1 Mountain Chickadee
2 Chestnut-backed Chickadee
4 Black-capped Chickadee
2 Winter Wren
6 Golden-crowned Kinglet
2 Ruby-crowned Kinglet
1 Townsend's Solitare
25+ American Robin
2 Hermit Thrush
40+ American Pipit
2 Orange-crowned Warbler
6 Townsend's Warbler
30+ Yellow-rumped Warber
2 MacGillvray's Warbler
1 Wilson's Warbler
1 Western Tanager
1 Song Sparrow
3 Savannah Sparrow
1 Fox Sparrow
12+ Lincoln's Sparrow
40+ Dark-eyed Junco
2 White-crowned Sparrow
1 Golden-crowned Sparrow
2 Varied Thrush
2 Purple Finch
3 Pine Sisken
5 Evening Grosbeak.
Also lots of butterflies. Aside from the pictures, I didnt get pictures of sulpher butterfly, tortoiseshell butterfly and the big white one with red dots on each wing (cant remember the name).
