After we arrived, one of the rangers here told us that there didn’t seem to be any birds in the area. Nicole was more than a little bummed by the comment but persisted none the less.
As it turns out, there are plenty of birds in the area. They just aren’t big on being obvious.
We’ll start out with two, new-to-us birds.
Although we’ve seen the dark eyed junco before the Slate-colored variant is new to us.
No, we didn’t mess up. There really is a bird in this photo.
Same photo with one section enlarged. How’s that for camouflage?
This one is super stealthy which earns it the very appropriate name of...
Brown Creeper.
Here’s a few more we’ve spotted around the campground.
Carolina Chickadee
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Eastern Phoebe
Tufted Titmouse
White-breasted Nuthatch
And, for our warbler tri-fecta...
Golden-crowned Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Myrtle variant of the Yellow-rumped Warbler (another new one for us)
Although we’ve seen the typical form Rock Dove, this Dark form (appropriately named as it loomed over us from on high) is new for us.
Our first ‘large bird’ spotting was this beautiful and stealthily positioned immature Red-shouldered Hawk.
On a misty day this Hermit Thrush (new bird, new bird!) appeared and posed a great challenge for our camera.
To wrap this up we’ll conclude with a triple play in the Woodpecker family from smallest to tallest.
Downy Woodpecker - 6 3/4”
Hairy Woodpecker - 9 1/4”
Pileated Woodpecker - 16 1/2”
That is the gist of our bird observations thus far. As the camping season whittles down and the flow of humans decreases, we expect we’ll continue to see several familiar and perhaps a few new birds occupying their favorite sites. Rest assured though that they’ll most likely do so very quietly.