
This past Sunday, 16 June, I had a full and productive day of birding with Robyn Puffenbarger and Bill Benish from Virginia. We were out for 12 hours and tallied 82 species without even hitting the coastal slope! The day was pleasant with very mild temperatures, mostly clear skies, and little wind. About 8 hours of the day were spent exploring the high country of the Horse to Grouse Mountain areas along Titlow Hill Rd./Forest Service Route 1 and the remaining time was spent birding the Mad River Hatchery near the town of Blue Lake. Highlights of the day were great looks at the following species: MOUNTAIN QUAIL (always hard to see), WHITE-HEADED WOODPECKERS (attending a nest), RED-BREASTED SAPSUCKER, HAMMOND'S, DUSKY, and WILLOW FLYCATCHERS, CASSIN'S VIREO, HERMIT WARBLER, YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT, GREEN-TAILED TOWHEE, and THICK-BILLED FOX SPARROW. LAZULI BUNTING was the abundant bird of the day and was seen at almost every stop we made in the Horse/Grouse mountain area. The rarity of the day was an adult male INDIGO BUNTING (INBU), which may have followed the Puffenbargers from Virginia somehow! ;) (This was the 3rd INBU to be found within the past 2 weeks in Humboldt County and all of them have been adult males!)