Battle Creek Canyon, Great Western and Grove Creek Canyon trails

[Terry & Bonnie Liddell <themliddells at juno dot com>]

At 5:30 on Monday morning a friend and I hiked up Battle Creek Canyon,
took the Great Western Trail north and hiked down Grove Creek Canyon.  We
saw the following birds:

Battle Creek Canyon:
Black-chinned Hummingbird (3)
Western Tanager (1)
Lazuli Bunting (1)
MacGillivray's Warbler (1)
Something with a long blue tail and white on the tips of the tail
feathers (1).  (At least that's what I thought I saw.  Having just
climbed about 1800 feet, maybe it was just a lack of oxygen going to my
brain.)
Great Western Trail:
Mountain Bluebird (6)
Dusky Flycatcher (1) (I think)
Savannah Sparrow (6) (I think)
MacGillivray's Warbler (2)
Chipping Sparrow (4)
Golden Eagle (1)
Large bird tracks on the trail.  They were about 3 inches long.  Maybe a
Sage Grouse?
Large hawk that left its perch in the trees and flew away below the tree
tops.  Maybe a Northern Goshawk?  (I didn't see it very well at all, but
it flew through the trees like an accipiter rather than a buteo.)
Grove Creek Canyon:
Western Tanagers (3)
Lazuli Buntings (2)
MacGillivray's Warbler (1)
Spotted Towhee (1)
Cliff Swallow (5)
Violet-green Swallow (1)
Grove Creek Canyon trail head:
Western Scrub Jay (3)
Western Kingbird (2)
Note:  This is about a 4 to 5 hour hike with about a 2300 foot vertical
climb and most of these birds were at the higher elevations.  However, if
you have a good 4-wheel-drive and a good map, you can access the Great
Western Trail between the two canyons without any climbing.

Cheers!

Terry Liddell
Pleasant Grove

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