Bennington Lake - Birds on the Move

Migration is under way at Bennington Lake.  We saw a red-naped sapsucker, a hairy woodpecker, two western tanagers a Wilson's warbler and a solitary sandpiper.  These are all birds that are moving through (or coming back in case of the hairy woodpecker).  Some of the birds are scarce now - Bullock's oriole and western kingbird.  There are more barn swallows over the lake and Vaux's swift numbers have increased - we saw over 50 on Tuesday.  Finches are abundant in the sunflower patches.  The Bewick's wrens are starting to sing again and we saw plenty of juvenile house wrens.  Because the lake is being drained there will be more mud each week.  That could mean there will be migrating shorebirds, so watch for them.  It will be interesting to see what birds we see at the lake with the change in the water levels.  There probably won't be as much waterfowl in October as usual, but those that do visit will be concentrated and easier to see.  I'll keep you posted.     Ginger

Blue Mountain Audubon Field Trip - Mountain Birding

Mike and MerryLynn Denny took 10 of us up Jasper Mountain today to look for birds on the move.  The cool/sunny weather was perfect - a nice change from the 100+ degree days we've been having.  We saw 59 species including some surprises.  The biggest surprise was finding a solitary sandpiper at a mud hole high in the mountains.  There were pygmy nuthatches at another water hole near our bluebird boxes along with western and mountain bluebirds.  We saw 10 species of flycatchers!  western wood peewee, olive-sided flycatcher, willow flycatcher, Hammond's flycatcher, dusky flycatcher, least flycatcher, western flycatcher, gray flycatcher, eastern kingbird and western kingbird. WOW!  We saw MacGillivray's, Wilson's, orange-crowned, Townsend's, yellow rumped and yellow warblers.  Red crossbills, chestnut backed chickadees, turkey vultures  - the list goes on.....  A great trip!