Today our Golden Gate Audubon birders hit a number of Ashland-area hotspots: Tolman Creek Creek Road above 3000 feet…then Mt. Ashland all the way past the ski lodge to Grouse Gap…then down to Emigrant Lake and into town for a look at one of the Western Screech-Owls along Ashland Creek.
Green-tailed Towhees, Lincoln’s and Chipping Sparrows, MacGillivray’s Warblers and stunning Lazuli Buntings were in the meadows above 6000 feet on Mt. Ashland. We sometimes found ourselves veering off into a butterfly trip…or trying to botanize the many spring wildflowers. As we began to descend from the ski lodge parking lot one of our birders, who’s just finished a bird-song class, heard the unmistakable call of the Olive-sided Flycatcher. It was in the high conifers directly east of the ski lodge on the slope downhill from the parking lot.Above, Calliope, badly backlit on Tolman Creek Road. Below, a Dusky Flycatcher at Bull Gap.
Male Lazuli Bunting above, at one point today a male and the drab female of the species were side by side in a tree. Below:Olive-sided Flycatcher high in tree atop Mt. Ashland:
A drowsy screecher around 5 PM, too early to be awakened by large mammals.
Tolman Creek Rd., Jackson, Oregon, US
May 27, 2018. 9 species
Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura) X
Calliope Hummingbird (Selasphorus calliope) 2
Steller’s Jay (Cyanocitta stelleri) X
Common Raven (Corvus corax) X
Bewick’s Wren (Thryomanes bewickii) 1
Dark-eyed Junco (Oregon) (Junco hyemalis [oreganus Group]) X
Western Tanager (Piranga ludoviciana) X
Black-headed Grosbeak (Pheucticus melanocephalus) X
Lazuli Bunting (Passerina amoena) X
Mt. Ashland, Jackson, Oregon, US
May 27, 2018. 21 species
Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura) X
Olive-sided Flycatcher (Contopus cooperi) 1
Willow Flycatcher (Empidonax traillii) 1
Dusky Flycatcher (Empidonax oberholseri) 3
Gray Jay (Perisoreus canadensis) 1
Common Raven (Corvus corax) X
Mountain Chickadee (Poecile gambeli) 4
Red-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta canadensis) X
Townsend’s Solitaire (Myadestes townsendi) X
American Robin (Turdus migratorius) X
MacGillivray’s Warbler (Geothlypis tolmiei) X
Chipping Sparrow (Spizella passerina) 15
Dark-eyed Junco (Oregon) (Junco hyemalis [oreganus Group]) 20
Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia) 1
Lincoln’s Sparrow (Melospiza lincolnii) 12
Green-tailed Towhee (Pipilo chlorurus) 8
Western Tanager (Piranga ludoviciana) 4
Black-headed Grosbeak (Pheucticus melanocephalus) 1
Lazuli Bunting (Passerina amoena) 6
Purple Finch (Haemorhous purpureus) 6
Pine Siskin (Spinus pinus) X
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