8 replies to this topic

[Doug Herr]

I'll be taking a road trip in July from Sacramento to the midwest & back and along the way I'll be looking for mountain birds. Target species include Dusky Grouse, any Rosy Finch, Clark's Nutcracker, Crossbills, Pinyon Jay. My most likely route will be I-80 to Salt Lake City, north to Yellowstone, then to I-90 for the rest of the drive to Wisconsin. Any suggestions for side trips are welcome as are good birding locations along the way.

[Doug Herr]

Anyone?

[zoutedrop]

Looks like this forum could use a boost. I was thinking about posting some previous trips here to promote certain locations. Hope you post a trip report, lots of luck.

[ColoTomo]

I'll be taking a road trip in July from Sacramento to the midwest & back and along the way I'll be looking for mountain birds. Target species include Dusky Grouse, any Rosy Finch, Clark's Nutcracker, Crossbills, Pinyon Jay. My most likely route will be I-80 to Salt Lake City, north to Yellowstone, then to I-90 for the rest of the drive to Wisconsin. Any suggestions for side trips are welcome as are good birding locations along the way.

Looks like you're not quite in my neck of the woods, but these are all birds I've gotten so far except for the grouse. Have been fortunate to get Rosy Finch a bunch of times, but you are not likely to see them unless you go to high elevations in the right places. I've seen all three species of Rosy Finch, and they come south for the winter. They DO come to mountain feeders, but they really prefer high elevations and in my experience only come to feeders during inclement weather when their natural food sources are unavailable. This is common knowledge for people like me who really love finches, especially Rosy Finches. Not sure what seeing them in the summer entails...

Of all the birds you named, Clark's Nutcracker are the least shy and Crossbills close second. The other three will be tough to see unless you're in the right habitat, and as I said, I'm not familiar with the area you described

[Doug Herr]

... Have been fortunate to get Rosy Finch a bunch of times, but you are not likely to see them unless you go to high elevations in the right places...

For Black Rosy Finch I'm planning on visiting the Beartooth plateau where I saw them ten years ago:

Black Rosy Finch, Carbon County Montana

The road tops out @ ~11,000 ft. I'm hoping to get better photos.

From mining ebird data, it looks like Mammoth in Yellowstone may be good for Dusky Grouse and Red Crossbill.

[dklucius]

here in south east Colorado the red crossbills and the pinyon jays seem to prefer the foothills where the pinyon and juniper and gambol oak brush give way to the pines and aspen. between 7000 and 8000 foot elevation. in the winter months the lower end and summer the higher end. They are not regular visiters to my feeders but i do see them several times a year and both travel in flocks

Edited by dklucius, 07 May 2012 - 03:13 PM.

[dklucius]

[BigSkyKen]

Doug, if you take a short detour north from I-90 at Billings to the Bull Mountains near Roundup, you will have a chance of seeing Red Crossbills. I have lived in the Bulls for 10 years, and the Crossbill population is hit and miss, but they are here in large numbers at this time. Over the past couple months I've had a pretty good run of getting some photos of them on my place. And, with a little notice, you are welcome to come to our place! Some of my images are at these two posts: http://bigskyken.wor...03/hide-n-seek/ and http://bigskyken.wor...ll-crookedness/

[Doug Herr]

Thanks Ken and dklucius.