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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