Birds of the Rocky Mountains

Last summer, Eric and I spent a couple of weeks exploring the Rocky Mountains, from Colorado's Rocky Mountain National Park, north into Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks.  While we dealt with quite a bit of rain and cold weather during our mid-June visit, the birds were abundant and beautiful!  

Below are a few of my favorite bird photos from the trip.

Mountain Bluebird, male, looking his best in the morning sunlight. (West Thumb, Yellowstone NP)


The same Mountain Bluebird, fending off a Tree Swallow who was competing with him for a nest cavity!



The offending Tree Swallow, looking rather sure of himself, don't you think?


Lincoln's Sparrow, singing away.  One of my favorite sparrows!  (Sprague Lake, Rocky Mountain NP) 


American Robin, carrying food to its young.  Check out the prettily-patterned undertail coverts on this bird! (Cub Lake trail, Rocky Mountain NP)


Green-tailed Towhee, looking dapper. (Glacier Basin campground, Rocky Mountain NP)


Sweet-looking female Cassin's Finch. (Trail from Glacier Basin to Sprague Lake, Rocky Mountain NP)


Dark-eyed Junco, Pink-sided race.  Juncos' coloration varies over their range; in California, we have the black-headed Oregon race, while in Rocky Mountain NP, we saw the "Gray Headed" race.  (Le Hardy Rapids trail, Yellowstone NP)



Harlequin Duck. (Le Hardy Rapids, Yellowstone NP)
Easily the coolest ducks in North America.  These guys nap on wave-washed rocks in the middle of raging white-water rivers and dive for their food in the rapids.  The original white-water rafters.


Seriously cool ducks!  I just love them.



A rather confiding male Western Tanager.  (Signal Mountain, Grand Teton NP)



Same guy, obligingly turned for a better angle.



Yellow-rumped Warbler, male in fresh breeding plumage! (Heron Pond trail, Grand Teton NP)



Red Crossbill, female.  Check out that crazy bill, exquisitely designed to pry seeds from pine cones.  (Colter Bay, Grand Teton NP)


My favorite way to get to know the birds in an area is to tent camp, listening for owls and nightjars at dusk, falling asleep to the weird and wonderful nighttime sounds, and waking in the early, pre-dawn hours to the most breathtaking of all symphonies, the dawn chorus.  Campgrounds are also usually excellent places to find a long list of birds, attracted to the artificially-created edge habitat and (unfortunately) crumbs and garbage humans leave behind.

While we camped our way up through the Rockies, the best birding spots I found in each park were...

In Rocky Mountain National Park: Sprague Lake (including the trail from the lake to Glacier Basin campground) and the Cub Lake trailhead area and trail.  

In Yellowstone National Park: The Pelican Creek nature trail (a short drive from the Bridge Bay campground), as well as the LeHardy Rapids area.

In Grand Teton National Park: The Moose Lake trail (near the Jenny Lake campground), Heron Pond trail (not far from the Colter Bay campground), the Oxbow Bend area, and the Gros Ventre campground.

And in case you missed it, be sure to check out this post on birding the alpine tundra in Rocky Mountain National Park!

Comments

Post a Comment

You Might Also Like:

Birds of the Desert: Residents & Spring Migrants

Image
Nearly everyone knows the desert as a barren, desolate land of extremes: high heat, low precipitation; little available food and water; prickly, spiny, unfriendly plants growing in a sea of rocks and sand as far as the eye can see.  But for those who stop and look closer, the desert reveals itself as the beautiful, incredible, mesmerizing place it truly is, teeming with unexpected life. Juvenile male Costa's Hummingbird visiting chuparosa blooms next to our campsite in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. I particularly love the desert in the spring, when the annual wildflowers, cacti, flowering trees and shrubs are all in bloom.  (I've experienced the desert in the searing 120 degree heat of summer, and the rainy, even snowy cold of winter... and spring wins every time!)  Eric and I just returned from a week in the Colorado desert, exploring the imperiled, accidental Salton Sea (more on that coming soon), the vital wetlands of the Sonny Bono Salton Sea National Wildlife Refu
Read more

A Shorebird Primer: Godwits, Curlews, Willets and Whimbrels

Image
For those of us living in the Great Central Valley, autumn is the time to head to the coast.  Of course, there is no bad time to visit California's magnificent coastline.  But as the heat and haze of summer drag on in the Valley, the sea becomes increasingly tantalizing: September and the onset of autumn bring sunny weather and an abundance of migratory seabirds and shorebirds to our coast. A new birder visiting California's Central Coast will undoubtedly be met with a splendid array of very confusing birds.  Among these are small shorebirds like  "peeps" (sandpipers), Sanderlings and various  plovers .  But the larger birds can be just as confusing, until you learn a few distinguishing features.  Four large shorebirds that are commonly seen (and commonly confused) along California's Central Coast are Godwits, Curlews, Willets and Whimbrels. Marbled Godwit (upper left), Whimbrel (upper right), Long-billed Curlew (center front) The distinguishing featu
Read more

Birding in Adverse Weather Conditions: Wind and Rain

Image
Though I often extol the virtues and merits of winter in the Central Valley , especially when it comes to birding, the whole truth is that we experience "bad" weather also, just like anywhere else.  But even when the winter weather rolls in, the birds are still out there!  And sometimes, despite our best planning efforts, a birding day happens to coincide with crummy weather.   In that case, what's a birder to do?  Usually, we go birding anyway!   Birders far more intrepid than I regularly brave the ice and snow of northern winters to see their favorite birds, so perhaps you should look to them for real tips on winter birding!  For those of us in the valleys of California, the worst weather we see - wind and rain - is really comparatively mild.  Birding on an extremely windy day! I don't know of anyone who actually likes birding in the rain.  But I would argue that birding in the wind is just as aggravating as trying to bird in the rain!   Wind can be utterly infuri
Read more

Joshua Tree Woodlands: A Tale of Sloths, Moths and the Trees that Need Them

Image
In 1844, early California explorer John C. Fremont gave a somewhat scathing review of Joshua trees when he wrote, "...their stiff and ungraceful form makes them to the traveler the most repulsive tree in the vegetable kingdom."  Rather unkind, don't you think?  But when Joshua trees were formally described by scientist William Trelease in the 1890's, he noted that Joshua Trees are "the most attractive of all the Yuccas."  I am inclined to agree with this sentiment, and must disagree most heartily with Lieutenant Fremont! I, for one, adore Joshua Trees, with their whimsical shapes and great ecological significance!  If you struggle with plant identification, the iconic Joshua tree, hallmark of the Mojave Desert, is a good place to start.  With densely spiked tufts protruding from the ends of gangly arms stretched towards the heavens, this looks like a plant straight from a Dr. Seuss book.  Native people called these trees “humwichawa,” and used thei
Read more

Winter Gulls: The Great I.D. Challenge

Image
Gulls are a fun challenge for birders, from beginners to experts.  A few things make gulls an interesting study: they are large and conspicuous in their open habitats, so they are easy to see, easy to put a scope on, and easy to watch and study for long periods of time.  Furthermore, gulls are almost always identifiable as gulls; none of this confusing warbler/vireo/kinglet nonsense! And yet, gulls are almost impossibly difficult!  (Though perhaps not nearly as difficult as Empidonax flycatchers!) An intimidating scene to many a birder: a mixed flock of gulls.  I see five different species of gull here. Oh, and one American Coot in the background. One of the reasons they are so complicated is most gull species take two or three years to achieve adult plumage, and go through multiple molts in a year.  So, you may be looking at three or four gulls together that look like four completely different species, when they are actually just different ages (individuals in their first, s
Read more

What's Wrong With This Tree?

Image
If you've spent any time in an oak woodland (and I sincerely hope that you have!!) you may have noticed something odd: strange growths on the branches and leaves of oak trees.  You might wonder if the trees are sick or diseased, or plagued with a dangerous pest. But not to worry; these fascinating growths are a normal part of a healthy oak community.  Spined Turban Gall on Valley Oak, with a bonus gall: the tiny orange sphere to the left of the larger gall might be a gall of the California Jumping Gall Wasp (inconclusive) These growths are in fact galls, and are caused by a variety of cynipid wasps.  Galls form when a wasp lays eggs in a plant's tissue, releasing chemicals which stimulate the plant to use its own tissue to form protective structures around the eggs.  As the insect larvae develops, it feeds on plant tissue from within its cozy gall home.  Galls form on a variety of plants, including alders, poplars, willows and even sagebrush.  But the best known and m
Read more