From September 4th-17th,
2012, my Dad and I (and our dog Eva) did a ~4,530 mile roadtrip from Heber, Arizona
up through Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, Montana, a sliver of Idaho (at night),
Washington, Oregon, and California. On our way through northeastern Arizona at
the beginning of the trip we stopped at the Hubbell Trading Post in Ganado,
which I posted sighting details about in a previous post. On the way back into
Arizona we only stopped briefly in the Williams area where we had typical
forest birds. Most of the trip was sight-seeing interspersed with birding, so many
potential birding areas were bypassed since we were really just trying to
sample several areas we had never been to before on a two week trip and had
lots of driving in between sites. However, I still managed a decent list of 152
bird species with two lifers on the trip, YELLOW-BILLED MAGPIE and OAK TITMOUSE
in California. I did have a jaeger species near Gold Coast, OR that went unidentified
that would have been a lifer too (my first jaeger ever). Non-avian highlights
from the trip included a family of MOOSE and a large herd of BISON at Grand
Tetons, BISON and ELK at Yellowstone National Park, several MOUNTAIN GOATS and
a BIGHORN SHEEP at Glacier National Park, an OLYMPIC MARMOT and BLACK-TAILED (MULE)
DEER at Hurricane Ridge in Olympic National Park, 1-2 GRAY WHALES at Boiler Bay
State Wayside in Oregon, and HARBOR SEALS, STELLER’S SEA LIONS, CALIFORNIA SEA
LIONS, NORTHERN ELEPHANT SEALS, GREEN SEA ANEMONES, PURPLE SEA URCHINS, a
CHITON species, and OCHRE SEA STARS (starfish) at several locations along the
Pacific Coast (Washington to California). Rather than write a long narrative
about the trip, I’ve instead included below the general list of locations
visited in each state followed by the entire list of birds on the trip with the
state abbreviations in parentheses following each species (states/locations
where each species was found) and additional notes for a few species. Email me
if you want further details about birds, places, etc.
**Arizona (Ganado/Hubbell Trading Post,
Williams)
**western Colorado (including Denny Lake
Park in Cortez, Cayton Campground in the San Juan Mtns., between Montrose and
Grand Junction, and between Loma and Rangely)
**northeastern Utah (including area
between Jensen and Flaming Gorge Reservoir)
**western Wyoming (including Duck Creek
Wildlife Area near Pinedale, the National Elk Refuge near Jackson, Grand Teton
and Yellowstone National Parks)
**western Montana (including Big Sky
area, between Butte and Missoula, Polson-Flathead Lake area, and Glacier
National Park)
**Washington (including rangeland west
of Spokane, Snoqualmie Pass in the Cascades, Ocean Shores/Grays Harbor and
Oyhut Wildlife Area, Quinault Rainforest/Kalaloch Beach/Hurricane Ridge at
Olympic National Park, Willapa National Wildlife Refuge, and Seaview Beach)
**Oregon coastline (including Ecola
State Park, D River Wayside, Boiler Bay State Wayside, Oregon Coast Aquarium/Newport
area, Tahkenitch Campground south of Florence, Sunset Bay State Park, Simpson
Reef overlook, Cape Arago overlook, beach near Gold Coast)
**northern half of California (including
Redwoods National Park and Humboldt-Redwoods State Park, coastline north of
Westport, a little bit of the central valley including rest area near Turlock,
Sequoia National Monument and Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Parks)
Common Loon (WY, CA)
Pacific Loon (WA, OR, CA)
Red-throated Loon (OR, CA; 80+ birds at
coastal overlook n. of Westport, CA)
Sooty Shearwater (WA, OR; thousands
migrating by coast in morning at several spots)
Trumpeter Swan (WY: National Elk Refuge
near Jackson)
Canada Goose (CO, WY, MT, WA, OR)
Mallard (CO, WY, MT, WA)
Northern Pintail (WA)
American Wigeon (WY)
Green-winged Teal (WA)
Ring-necked Duck (WY)
Harlequin Duck (OR)
Surf Scoter (WA, OR)
White-winged Scoter (OR)
Hooded Merganser (WA)
Common Merganser (CO, WY, MT, WA)
American White Pelican (UT)
Brown Pelican (WA, OR, CA)
Double-crested Cormorant (CO, WY, MT,
WA, OR, CA)
Pelagic Cormorant (WA, OR, CA)
Brandt's Cormorant (OR, CA)
Great Blue Heron (CO, MT, WA, OR)
Great Egret (CA)
Cattle Egret (CA)
Red-necked Grebe (OR, CA)
Pied-billed Grebe (CO)
Western Grebe (WA, CA)
Turkey Vulture (AZ, WY, MT, WA, OR, CA)
Northern Harrier (WY, MT, WA)
White-tailed Kite (CA)
Sharp-shinned Hawk (MT, WA)
Cooper's Hawk (CA)
Red-shouldered Hawk (OR, CA; WA: Lake
Quinault--Sibely’s shows them rare that far north)
Swainson's Hawk (WY, WA)
Red-tailed
Hawk (CO, WY, MT, WA, CA)
Golden Eagle (CO, UT, WY, MT)
Bald Eagle (WY, WA)
Osprey (CO, WY, MT, WA, CA)
American Kestrel (AZ, CO, WY, MT, CA)
Prairie Falcon (MT, WA)
Peregrine Falcon (WY, WA, OR)
Dusky Grouse (WY)
Wild Turkey (UT)
Sandhill Crane (WY)
Semipalmated Plover (WA)
Killdeer (WA)
Black Oystercatcher (OR, CA)
Greater Yellowlegs (WA)
Whimbrel (WA)
Black Turnstone (WA, OR)
Sanderling (WA)
Pectoral Sandpiper (WA)
Baird's Sandpiper (WA)
Western Sandpiper (WA)
Long-billed Dowitcher (WA)
Short-billed Dowitcher (WA)
Ring-billed Gull (WA)
California Gull (WA)
Glaucous-winged Gull (WA, OR)
Western Gull (WA, OR, CA)
Heermann's Gull (WA, OR, CA)
Common Murre (WA, OR, CA)
Pigeon Guillemot (WA, OR, CA)
Mourning Dove (CO, WY, WA, CA)
Eurasian Collared-Dove (AZ, CO, MT, CA)
Rock Pigeon (CO, MT, WA, OR, CA)
Band-tailed Pigeon (WA, CA)
Great Horned Owl (CO)
Vaux's Swift (CA)
White-throated Swift (CA)
Black-chinned Hummingbird (AZ, CO)
Rufous Hummingbird (UT)
Belted Kingfisher (CO, WY, OR)
Acorn Woodpecker (CA)
Williamson's Sapsucker (MT)
Hairy Woodpecker (WY)
White-headed Woodpecker (CA)
Northern Flicker (CO, WY, WA, OR, CA)
Pileated Woodpecker (WA)
Western Wood-Pewee (AZ)
Willow Flycatcher (AZ)
Black Phoebe (CA)
Loggerhead Shrike (MT)
Warbling Vireo (AZ)
Steller's Jay (CO, MT, WA, OR, CA)
Western Scrub-Jay (CA)
Gray Jay (CO, WY, WA)
Pinyon Jay (AZ, CO)
Clark's Nutcracker (CO, WY)
Black-billed Magpie (CO, WY, MT, WA)
Yellow-billed Magpie (CA)
Common Raven (AZ, CO, UT, WY, MT, WA,
OR, CA)
American Crow (CO, MT, WA, OR, CA)
Northwestern Crow (WA)
Horned Lark (WY)
Violet-green Swallow (CO)
Barn Swallow (CO, UT, WY, WA, CA)
Bushtit (CA)
Oak Titmouse (CA)
Black-capped Chickadee (UT, WY, MT, OR)
Mountain Chickadee (AZ, CO, WY, MT, CA)
Chestnut-backed Chickadee (WA, OR, CA)
Red-breasted Nuthatch (WY, MT, WA, OR,
CA)
Pygmy Nuthatch (AZ, MT)
Brown Creeper (CO, OR, CA)
Bewick's Wren (AZ, WA, CA)
House Wren (AZ)
Pacific Wren (WA, OR, CA)
Rock Wren (CO)
American Dipper (WY)
Wrentit (OR)
Golden-crowned Kinglet (CO, MT, WA, OR,
CA)
Ruby-crowned Kinglet (CO, WY)
Mountain Bluebird (CO, WY)
Varied Thrush (WA)
American Robin (CO, WY, MT, WA, OR, CA)
European Starling (CO, MT, WA, OR, CA)
Cedar Waxwing (WY, MT, WA, OR)
Orange-crowned Warbler (AZ)
Yellow Warbler (AZ, WY)
Yellow-rumped Warbler (CO, WY, MT, WA,
CA)
MacGillivray's Warbler (AZ)
Common Yellowthroat (CO, WY)
Wilson's Warbler (CO, WY, MT)
Yellow-breasted Chat (AZ)
Western Tanager (AZ, CO)
Spotted Towhee (WA, CA)
Green-tailed Towhee (AZ, WY)
Brewer’s Sparrow (AZ, WY)
Chipping Sparrow (AZ, WY)
Savannah Sparrow (WY, WA)
Vesper Sparrow (WY)
White-crowned Sparrow (CO, WA, OR)
Song Sparrow (WY, WA, OR, CA)
Lincoln's Sparrow (WA, CA)
Dark-eyed Junco (CO, WY, MT, WA, CA)
Blue Grosbeak (AZ, CO)
Lazuli Bunting (AZ)
Western Meadowlark (CA)
Brown-headed Cowbird (WA)
Yellow-headed Blackbird (WY, WA)
Red-winged Blackbird (CO, WA)
Brewer's Blackbird (CO, WY, WA, OR, CA)
Evening Grosbeak (WA)
Purple Finch (WA, CA)
Cassin's Finch (WY)
House Finch (AZ, CO)
Red Crossbill (AZ, WA, OR
Pine Siskin (CO, WY, WA, OR
Lesser Goldfinch (AZ, CA)
American Goldfinch (WY, WA, OR, CA; ~200
birds n. of Westport, CA)
House Sparrow (AZ, CO, UT, WY, MT, WA,
OR, CA)
