ESTESBOG

TWO STATES AND FOUR BIOMES

 

            It was a very interesting birding week. I spent the first 4 days here in Colorado and the last three in San Diego. On Wednesday I made a business journey into the ponderosa pine foothills of the Rockies to about 7,500’ elevation in southern Douglas County. Thus my Colorado list for the week contains montane as well as grassland species. On the San Diego trip Nancy and I spent time on or near the harbor but also took a long drive to the east and northeast into inland farm and ranch country. Having been to San Diego twice before, there were fewer possibilities for life birds this time around. Nevertheless I added two species: California towhee and red-crowned parrot.

 

Colorado week list:

 

American white pelican

Double-crested cormorant

Great blue heron

Canada goose

Mallard

Gadwall

Blue-winged teal

Redhead

Turkey vulture

Northern harrier

Swainson’s hawk

Red-tailed hawk

Ferruginous hawk

American kestrel

Northern bobwhite

Ring-necked pheasant

American coot

Killdeer

Solitary sandpiper

Ring-billed gull

Mourning dove

Eurasian collared-dove

Rock pigeon

Chimney swift

Broad-tailed hummingbird

Belted kingfisher

Williamson’s sapsucker

Downy woodpecker

Northern flicker

Say’s phoebe

Eastern kingbird

Western kingbird

Loggerhead shrike

Blue jay

Black-billed magpie

Common raven

American crow

Horned lark

Northern rough-winged swallow

Cliff swallow

Barn swallow

American dipper

House wren

Ruby-crowned kinglet

Western bluebird

American robin

Gray catbird

Northern mockingbird

Brown thrasher

European starling

Orange-crowned warbler

Nashville warbler

Yellow warbler

Yellow-rumped warbler

Black-and-white warbler

Common yellowthroat

Black-headed grosbeak

Spotted towhee

Clay-colored sparrow

Chipping sparrow

Vesper sparrow

Lark bunting

Lark sparrow

White-crowned sparrow

Song sparrow

Dark-eyed junco, red-backed race

Western meadowlark

Brown-headed cowbird

Yellow-headed blackbird

Red-winged blackbird

Brewer’s blackbird

Common grackle

Great-tailed grackle

Bullock’s oriole

House finch

Red crossbill

Pine siskin

American goldfinch

House sparrow

 

Southern California week list:

 

Pacific loon

Western grebe

Brown pelican

Double-crested cormorant

Pelagic cormorant

Brandt’s cormorant

Great blue heron

Great egret

Snowy egret

Green heron

Black-crowned night-heron

Mallard

Turkey vulture

Northern harrier

Red-shouldered hawk

Red-tailed hawk

American kestrel

Killdeer

Western gull

Heermann’s gull (juveniles)

Caspian tern

Least tern

Mourning dove

Eurasian collared-dove

Rock dove

Red-crowned parrot [L]

Black-chinned hummingbird

Acorn woodpecker

Northern flicker

Black phoebe

Say’s phoebe

Western kingbird

Western scrub-jay (Pacific race)

Common raven

American crow

Horned lark

Northern rough-winged swallow

Cliff swallow

Barn swallow

Bushtit (white-eyed Pacific race)

Bewick’s wren

House wren

Wrentit

Western bluebird

American robin

Northern mockingbird

European starling

Phainopepla

Common yellowthroat

Blue grosbeak

Spotted towhee

California towhee [L]

Song sparrow

Western meadowlark

Brown-headed cowbird

Red-winged blackbird

Brewer’s blackbird

Great-tailed grackle

House finch

House sparrow

 

Mammals:

 

            Colorado:

Black-tailed prairie dog

Eastern cottontail

Golden-mantled ground squirrel

Fox squirrel

            California:

                        California sea lion