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Brian Currie and I birded Brighton yesterday and
tried to exercise or exorcise our need to see those high-elevation birds.
We spent almost 12 hours primarily on the Lake Solitude and Twin Lakes
trails. You have guessed correctly if you thought we took the time to look
at every single bird. We were amply rewarded for our slow
pace. The exorcism part might not have worked--yesterday's trip was
terrific and I might have to return.
We saw a yellow-green female WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILL
about 100 feet from the Silver Lake Visitor Center parking
lot. We were standing on the paved road that angles off to the
right and leads to private homes. The crossbill perched on a
small dead snag and gave us good looks at the strong white wing markings.
Then she dropped through the willow shrubs to a stream. An opening in
the foliage allowed us to peek through to see her taking a drink at the end
of a log. This bird gave us the best view of
any crossbill yesterday because she descended so
low.
Many Red Crossbills were in the same area and
further down the road. The crossbills were very active
and vocal. They stayed high in fir trees or sometimes at the top of
dead snags. Crossbill-seekers should listen for the birds' slightly
trilled or lisped, "kip, kip!" call.
This willow area seemed to be favored by--believe
it or not--Red-naped Sapsuckers. We saw a couple adults and juveniles at
two different times. The birds either picked and poked at willow branches
within 3 feet of the ground or waited for Mom and Dad to deliver
delectables.
Both kinglet species showed off their golden
or ruby crowns. A couple Ruby-crowned Kinglets were especially startling
when they flared that tomato-red stripe at just the right angle and in good
light...at eye-level. The crown was shocking. These little
guys must not know they're not supposed to come down from the tree-tops
until fall.
An inexplicable trio of Blue Grouse crossed the
Lake Solitude trail at the first ski run. The
first grouse was an adult male as evidenced by his yellow
eyebrow. He quietly made his way through the grasses and kept a wary
eye on us. Two chicks followed him at a short distance.
The chicks appeared to take the same path as their leader and we believe they
were together. Perhaps that adult male isn't quite as liberated as
his grouse brethren.
A Clark's Nutcracker, a Townsend's Solitaire,
and a male Williamson's Sapsucker busied themselves 1/4 to 1/3 mile above
Lake Solitude. I believe the Beyers reported this sapsucker site
previously. For all you gadget gurus, the elevation was 9370' and the
UTM coordinates were, X: 449068, Y: 4494837. We saw three more
Clark's Nutcrackers on the Twin Lakes side where the trail crosses through the
ridge and descends to Lake Solitude. We watched a juvenile
Northern Goshawk eat breakfast. Every time the goshawk stretched down to
its feet for a beakful of the blob pinned beneath its talons, the food item
stretched up red and stringy-looking. I'm sure spaghetti must have been on
the menu. Breakfast sure looked like spaghetti--covered with a LOT of
marinara sauce. At least one other juvenile goshawk and an adult were in
the area as well.
A pair of Western
Wood-pewees had built a nest against an aspen trunk and about 25 feet
up. The site was surprisingly open. The parents had used a stump of
a branch on which to build their nest, and we could just barely see the back of
at least one fledgling. The adult was not disturbed by our presence.
He or she made two bug deliveries as we approached.
The most spectacular sight of the day occured at
about 6:30 p.m. near Twin Lakes in a boulder and wildflower-strewn field.
A Johnny-come-lately male Blue Grouse made his way through the wildflowers
displaying his dazzling panoply of breeding plumage. He was close on the
tail of a female. The male's bright yellow eyebrows looked like
thick, fuzzy caterpillars. His air sacs were enormous, red-purple
centered daisies appliqued to the sides of his neck. The white fluffy
feathers surrounding the sacs appeared to be the daisy petals and of course, the
grouse's tail was a perfect, gray-on-gray fan. The display, slow and
circling pursuit, and even four separate hoots covered the span of 5 or 6
minutes. Alas, Johhny's efforts were in vain. Brian detected a
single quail-sized chick following the hen. The female and the chick
quietly made their way through the flowers vocalizing almost
imperceptible, low murmurs. The male dropped out of sight behind a boulder
and we did not see him again. This location is about 75
yards (mountain side) from the small wooden building next to Twin
Lakes dam.
Of course, we saw all those other wonderful
mountain birds you'd expect--Mountain Chickadees; Hammond's,
Cordilleran, and Olive-sided Flycatchers; Hairy Woodpeckers; Broad-tailed
Hummingbirds; Hermit Thrushes; Steller's Jays and more.
Perhaps yesterday's trip helped exorcise that
nagging feeling that the "good" summer bird activity is over. I guess I'm
not quite ready for fall migrants. I was thankful we saw REALLY
good summer bird activity--a courtship ritual, parents feeding nestlings, and
young birds out and about with parental escorts. Summer ain't over
'til it's over, I guess.
Finally, if you're looking to escape the heat,
Brighton should be your destination. The temperature was 48
degrees when we arrived at 7:30 or 8:00 a.m. I put on a brave face and
faked looking comfortable to the never-wore-a-jacket-in-my-life Brian Currie,
but I was freezing my pitoot off.
Kris
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