Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Golden-crowned Sparrow in San Juan Co.

[Mark Stackhouse <westwings at sisna dot com>]

Sorry that this is a bit late, but I just got back from a tour to see
the Gunnison Sage-Grouse (already 6 males on a lek ENE of Monticello).
The most unusual birds we saw were a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker at Devil's
Canyon Campground south of Monticello and a Golden-crowned Sparrow at
the Blanding sewage treatment ponds. The sapsucker was along the
self-guided nature trail (at stop 12, but it was moving around the area)
at the very end of the left-hand fork (from the entrance) of the
campground road. It's a first-year female, and as such is easy to
recognize and separate from Red-naped Sapsucker (also in the area). It
has a completely white chin and throat (bordered in black), and although
it is mostly in adult plumage, the black breast band is still
incomplete, and appears speckled black with tan feather-edgings. Both of
these marks are good for telling Yellow-bellied from Red-naped (female
Red-naped should have some red in the throat and the black breast band
should be complete no later than January of the first year). The
Golden-crowned Sparrow was an immature bird in a flock of White-crowned
Sparrows in the brush along the east side of the sewage ponds about a
mile south of Blanding on US 191.

Another item of note was the very large number of Pygmy Nuthatches at
Devil's Canyon. We didn't, however see any Acorn Woodpeckers.

Good birding!

Mark

Mark Stackhouse
Westwings, Inc.
westwings@sisna.com

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