Our scheduled walk at Kit Carson Park had to be changed due to the park being used by Cal Fire.  The park was closed to the public.  Thanks to Jim Beckman and Penny Hernandez for redirecting any birder that did not see the notice of possible change of location.  It was a warm sunny day in the mid-eighties, but felt down right cool compared the last 4 days of Santa Anna blast furnace.  What we lacked in quantity, we made up in some exceptional sightings of brilliantly colored Vermillion Flycatcher, Bullock’s Oriole, and Western Bluebirds.  The birds of the trip had to be two recently fledged Great-horned Owls.  They still had down feathers on their head and leg area that made they look adorable.  Had large numbers of American Robins and Phainopeplas, but not one warbler of any type.  Here is a list of the 35 species seen or heard:

Mallard
Great Blue Heron
Turkey Vulture
Red-shouldered Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Eurasian Collared-Dove
Mourning Dove
Great Horned Owl
Anna’s Hummingbird
Acorn Woodpecker
Nuttall’s Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Western Wood-Pewee
Pacific-slope Flycatcher
Black Phoebe
Say’s Phoebe
Vermilion Flycatcher
Cassin’s Kingbird
Western Kingbird
American Crow
Common Raven
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Tree Swallow
Bushtit
White-breasted Nuthatch
Western Bluebird
American Robin
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
Phainopepla
California Towhee
Lark Sparrow
Bullock’s Oriole
House Finch
Lesser Goldfinch

Leader:  Jeff Ebright