August 23, 2006
Great Gray Grouse (but no owl)
Marcel and I made the long day trip out to Yosemite in search of Great Gray Owl for our state lists (and frankly, one can never see enough of these fantastic beasts). By the time we reached Yosemite it was early afternoon, and we decided to start our birding at Glacier Point (picking up a fly-by Williamson's Sapsucker en route). Our reasoning was that even if there weren't any birds, the temperature would be pleasant and the scenery outstanding.
We were rewarded with amazing close views of Sooty (formerly Blue) Grouse of all ages as they fed or loafed close to the visitor centre, seemingly oblivious to the hordes of daytrippers. I took many, many shots of these cooperative birds, the best of which are below. I particularly liked this one of a female in her natural habitat:
A couple of head shots of the female.
A smart male.
As you can see, the scope wasn't necessary!
Both the females (upper) and immatures (lower) showed a pale grey tip to the tail - aside from range, this is one of the few characters separating this species from the Interior Dusky Grouse.
Also at the Point we bumped into this bright Chipmunk sp....
and a family of MacGillivray's Warblers, including this bold baby.
We decided to drive straight down to Wawona Meadow, where Great Gray Owls had been recently reported. Since there were still a couple of hours until dusk, we walked the perimeter trail around the meadow, which turned out to be surprisingly birdy. First off, we had a flyover flock of about 20 Evening Grosbeaks and soon after, this young Western Wood-Pewee.
We flushed a covey of California Quail, including an egg-sized baby and this smart male.
The woodpeckers here included Hairy and Red-breasted Sapsucker. An Olive-sided Flycatcher showed well, if briefly, while a Cassin's Vireo sang but stayed hidden. Black-headed Grosbeak and bright Western Tanagers were a joy to see again, and showed much better than flighty Cassin's Finches and a single Chipping Sparrow. A number of warblers were feeding around the clearing, though it was unclear which were resident and which migrants. We spotted Orange-crowned, Nashville, Yellow, Yellow-rumped, Hermit, MacGillivray's and Wilson's.
As dusk approached, Vaux's Swifts and Violet-Green Swallows hawked over the meadow, to be eventually replaced by Common Nighthawk. We joined up with a couple of birders from Chico, one of whom recognized me from my blog - fame at last! We chatted for a while, but the great gray ghost failed to materialise, and we had to content ourselves with scope views of Jupiter's moons and the best stars I've seen in ages on the long road back to Davis.
Posted by rjhall at August 23, 2006 1:27 AM