A red-tailed hawk assesses its terrain
As a lifelong birder and wildlife watcher, it’s still a thrill to spot a something I’ve never seen before. Since the last Species Parade, I got lucky twice:
I spotted a pair of American Dippers, small waders who were feeding, splashing, and swimming in the Mancos River. Dippers, I learned, are North America’s only truly aquatic song bird.
I noticed a Northern Pygmy Owl, perched on a dead scrub oak in the canyon where I live. These tiny owls (about the size of a bluebird) prey on mostly songbird species about their size.
Thankfully, both species were not flighty and I was able to capture them over a few minutes.
Otherwise, it’s been a quiet winter. Spring has sprung, bringing the return of songbirds, sparrows, and the predators who feed on them.
Mammals:
Coyote
Red Fox
Elk
Mule Deer
Cottontail Rabbit
A bobcat mouses
Brush Mouse
Rock Squirrel
Golden Mantled Squirrel
Pocket Gopher
Prairie Dog
Skunk
Raccoon
Abert’s Squirrel
Bobcat
Bald Eagle
Western Bluebirds are back
Lewis’s Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Nuthatch
House Sparrow
Chipping Sparrow
Red-Winged Black Bird
Canada Goose
Mallard
Gadwall
Great Blue Heron
Townsend’s Solitaire
Mountain Bluebird
Western Bluebird
Red Shafted Flicker
Red-winged Blackbird
Steller’s Jay
Northern Pygmy Owl is the size of a medium-sizes sparrow
Black Capped Chickadee
Mountain Chickadee
American Crow
Common Raven
Scrub Jay
Magpie
Turkey
Dark-Eyed Junco (and its many varieties)
Ringed Turtle Dove
Rock Dove
American Kestrel
Turkey Vulture
Red-Tailed Hawk
Cooper’s Hawk
American Dipper
Starling
American Robin
Great Horned Owl
Western Screech Owl
Northern Pygmy Owl
An American Dipper feeds in the Mancos River