Day 258: Bullock's Oriole

The Bullock's Oriole is a small type of blackbird that are native to western North America. At one time, this species and the Baltimore Oriole were considered to be a single species, the Northern Oriole.

Bullock's Orioles are sexually dimorphic, and males are more brightly colored than females, with bright orange and black plumage.

Day 257: Brewer's Sparrow

The Brewer's Sparrow is a small bird found in brushy areas in western Canada and the western United States.

Day 256: Baird's Sandpiper

The Baird's Sandpiper is a small sandpiper that breeds in the northern tundra from eastern Siberia to western Greenland. They migrate long distances and winter in South America. These birds forage by moving about mudflats, picking up food by sight. They mainly eat insects, also some small crustaceans.

Day 255: Townsend's Solitaire

The Townsend's Solitaire is a medium-sized thrush found in western North America. It has a short black bill, a white eye ring, and gray plumage.

Day 254: Dusky Grouse

The Dusky Grouse was another bird that we really wanted to see in Colorado. We heard that one had been seen on a certain trail recently, so we went to check it out. After hiking a while, we still hadn't found one, but we ran into a local birder who was also looking (the same birder who ran the bird banding station). We chatted a while, and he went on his way back towards the trail head. We soon decided to give up and turn back as well, which was very fortunate, because just a few minutes later we ran into the birder again, and he had found two Dusky Grouse right on the side on the trail!

It seemed to be an adult and a younger grouse together. They let us get pretty close to them without scaring off, and we watched them for quite a while.

Day 253: American Three-toed Woodpecker

During most of our Colorado trip, Jared and I were on the hunt for a American Three-toed Woodpecker. We had heard of several good locations to spot this species, but did not seem to have any luck. This woodpecker tends to be quiet, and can be difficult to locate.

Adults are black on the head, wings and rump, and white from the throat to the belly; the flanks are white with black bars. Adult males have a yellow cap, which is what we were on the lookout for. We had no luck for several days, though we did see many other types of woodpeckers. By the end of our trip, we sadly gave up our search.

Once back in Maryland, we soon started sorting through our photos. One evening, Jared yelled for me to come look at his computer, where he had zoomed in on a picture I had taken of two birds we thought were Hairy Woodpeckers. When we originally saw the birds, we were on a very busy trail and did not have much time to look at them before moving on. After a closer inspection, however, Jared realized that we had actually seen two American Three-toed Woodpeckers! Can you see the bit of yellow on the male's head?

Day 252: Western Bluebird

Adult male Western Bluebirds are bright blue on top and on the throat with an orange breast and sides, a brownish patch on back, and a gray belly and undertail coverts. Adult females have a duller blue body, wings, and tail than the male, a gray throat, dull orange breast, and a gray belly and undertail coverts. Immature Western Bluebirds have duller colors than the adults, they also have spots on their chest and back. The bird that we saw below, in Rocky Mountain National Park, was an immature bird.

Western Bluebirds are sometimes confused with other bluebirds, however they can be distinguished without difficulty. The Western Bluebird has a blue (male) or gray (female) throat, the Eastern Bluebird has an orange throat, and the Mountain Bluebird lacks orange color anywhere on its body.