adult Sabine's Gull at Rush Delta, and good Sierra birds at D...

adult Sabine's Gull at Rush Delta, and good Sierra birds at Deadman Summit

From: Justin Hite
Date: 15 Sep 2006
Time: 17:09:10 -0400
Remote Name: 65.241.2.134

Comments

Lots of fun birding in the basin lately. On 9/13 I was in the big Jeffery Pine forests and Red Fir forests above Deadman Pass. About a quarter mile in on 2S10 from Deadman Summit there was a good looking male Williamson's Sapsucker, an Olive-sided Flycatcher, and an immature Black-throated Gray Warbler. Further up, at Hartley Springs, there were at least 200 Red Crossbills destroying sappy green Red Fir cones. There was also a second Olive-sided Flycatcher at Hartley and three fighting white-headed Woodpeckers. And there were several mixed species flocks throughout this area with all three Nuthatches, both Kinglets, Mountain Bluebirds, Townsend's Solitaire, and swarms of Audubon's Warblers and Mountain Chickadees. Then on 9/14, there was an adult Sabine's Gull at the Rush Creek delta, mostly hanging out in the little cove just to the east of the river mouth. It's a really good looking bird, with only a tiny bit of the pale head feathers molting in above the eyes. It's fearless you can get right up to it without spooking it. Also 10 Caspian Terns and 4 Marbled Godwit loafing with about a thousand California Gulls at the delta, and several hundred Red-necked phalaropes (no Wilson's) foraging in the crazy wind swept water with a few Eared Grebes. Earlier in the morning there was a single Lincoln's Sparrow at Old Marina skulking in the willows with dozens of non-skulking Orange-crowned and Audubon's Warblers. And today at about noon I saw a Prairie Falcon fly up Lee Vining canyon while drinking coffe at Latte Da.

Sabine's and California Gulls copyright Justin Hite, 2006 Adult in flight copyright Justin Hite, 2006

Last Updated August 09, 2007