 |
| Ptarmigan enjoying the sunshine in the days before the bird count |
I'm always recruited by the bird count to climb up into the alpine and find a rock or willow ptarmigan. These birds are only found in the mountains, but, overall, there are relatively fewer birds in the alpine. So rather than waste precious birding resources combing the alpine - they usually just send a few 'ptarmigan SWAT' people up to find the ptarmigan while the rest off the birders comb the low country and out on the ocean.
Anyway, some years ptarmigan are hard to find and I have missed finding them on count day. But seeing them 3 days before and 3 days afterwards counts towards 'count week' totals. So for the few days before the bird count I took the dogs up Pyramid looking for ptarmigan. And we found a flock that was in the same spot every day. So we had a 'count week' ptarmigan (top photo).
Then on Saturday, we had to get one for 'count day' and so up we went. On the way up we saw Pine Grosbeaks which we dutifully photographed and recorded. And then, in the exact same spot where they had been for days, we found the ptarmigan. We got close enough to see the thin beaks and black eye lines that indicate that they are rock and not willow ptarmigan.
And I also noticed some other little brown birds hopping about with the ptarmigan. And so I crawled close enough to get a picture and identify the 'little brown birds'. They looked like Grey Crowned Rosy Finches - but I had to go home and look them up in a book to be sure.
My final bird count was: 1 mile covered over 1.5 hours - 4 Pine Grosbeaks, 9 Rock Ptarmigan, and 7 Grey Crowned Rosy Finches. I did not see a single Raven, Magpie or even a Bald Eagle. Those are usually the most common birds.
Patrick
 |
| Male Pine Grosbeak |
 |
| Rock Ptarmigan |
 |
| If you look closely you can see both Rock Ptarmigan and Grey Crowned Rosy Finches in this photo |
No comments:
Post a Comment