Bird List for Sequoia Trip

White-headed Woodpecker (male) tending nest not feet from our motorhome.

I saw all these amazing birds on my trip.  7 life birds!  Even seeing a Robin was exciting though because they weren’t our neighborhood tame Robins.  They were wild mountain robins who live at 7000 ft elevation and would think they’d have died and gone to heaven if they saw a golf course.  (Okay, the mallard wasn’t all that wild.  She was a female who lived at a youth camp and she was very tame!)  I’ll do invidiual posts on some of the life birds in the next few days.  I saw some amazing birds!

• American Robin – Turdus migratorius
• Steller’s Jay – Cyanocitta stelleri
• Common Raven – Corvus corax
• Mallard – Anas platyrhynchos
• Great Horned Owl – Bubo virginianus
• White-headed Woodpecker – Picoides albolarvatus (Life)
• Cliff Swallow – Petrochelidon pyrrhonota
• Chipping Sparrow – Spizella passerina (Life)
• Cassin’s Finch – Carpodacus cassinii
• Brown Creeper – Certhia americana
• Brewer’s Blackbird – Euphagus cyanocephalus
• American Dipper – Cinclus mexicanus (Life)
• Dark-eyed Junco – Junco hyemalis
• Fox Sparrow – Passerella iliaca
• White-breasted Nuthatch – Sitta carolinensis
• Rufous Hummingbird – Selasphorus rufus
• Purple Finch – Carpodacus purpureus
• Oak Titmouse – Baeolophus inornatus
• Northern Flicker – Colaptes auratus (Life)
• Mountain Chickadee – Poecile gambeli
• Mountain Bluebird – Sialia currucoides
• Western Tanager – Piranga ludoviciana
• Canyon Wren – Catherpes mexicanus (Life)
• American Kestrel – Falco sparverius
• Rock Wren – Salpinctes obsoletus (Life)
• Red-tailed Hawk – Buteo jamaicensis
• Clark’s Nutcracker – Nucifraga columbiana (Life)
• Lesser Goldfinch – Carduelis psaltria

First bird I saw at our campsite – very cooperative Brown Creeper!

This Fox Sparrow plunked itself down and started singing up a storm.  We were in a really busy part of Kings Canyon National Park (at the General Grant Grove) — I was so surprised.  I tried to get it singing on video but as soon as I started the video, it flew away!

These blackbirds were hawking bugs over the water of the Kings River.  Really amazing to see.

Does it surprise you that there were Ravens nesting 20 yards from our campsite?  I’d love to show you pictures of their nest but it was well-hidden and when they saw me near their tree, they wouldn’t approach the nest.  Amazing the amount of noise the nestlings made though as Mama and Daddy left and arrived.

Rufous Hummingbird high atop a Pine tree.  It was about 6am and 43F or so.  She buzzed me and hovered near me (hoping my pink shirt was a HUGE flower, no doubt) and then went to the tippy-top of the tree to chirp at me.

Terrible picture of a Mountain Chickadee.  They are so different from my Chestnut-backed Chickadees.  Even their call was different . . . .clearly a chickadee but to my ear, off somehow.  They are so striking with their sharp black and white contrasting heads and sleek grey wings.

Glorious color!  Western Tanager, male.

Muted color!  Western Tanager, female

Clark’s Nutcracker.  A member of the Jay/Crow/Raven family.  The Tanager couple above chased him away everytime they saw him.  Evidently, Clark’s Nutcrackers are not to be trusted!  🙂

Don’t forget to visit the latest I and the Bird!  Hosted by Birdfreak, it’s not to be missed (even if you aren’t a baseball fan!)  I’m probably not the only person who watches birds at a baseball game!  🙂

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