Hope Airport
June 3rd 2010
We just had to drive up to the Hope Airport this afternoon because Rick told us that he had seen and heard a marvellous little bird up there called the Yellow-breasted Chat. It is red listed and is a darling little bird. We stopped where he said that he had seen it and listened but didn’t hear anything, so we wandered along and all of a sudden, there was its distinctive voice in the wild roses right where we started out. We just couldn’t get over the wonderful odour of the wild rose as we wandered back there and listened to the most enthralling and entertaining performance of this little guy while we hoped that he would eventually show himself. Well, he did but we weren’t ready and our camera settings were also not ready but here are a few pretty poor photos of him with his amazing repertoire of calls.
Click below to hear the Yellow-breasted Chat
Click below to hear more Yellow-breasted Chat
At the same spot a little bird that we will just have to say is a mystery to us, popped onto a log for just a few seconds.
A Wilson’s Warbler also popped out for a second.
While we were waiting for him to pop back out, which never happened, Bruce spotted a Chipping Sparrow above my head in the tree.
When we turned to look at the field behind us there were over a dozen Chipping Sparrows hopping around in the field and on the fence rails.
As we were watching them, a young Eagle and six Turkey Vultures flew over our heads swirling in circles as they disappeared into the mountains in the distance.
A large Hawk flew near the Mountains.
Far off past the Chipping Sparrows were two female Lazuli Buntings enjoying the long grass there.
American Robins and their fledglings enjoyed the fields around us.
A White-crowned Sparrow stopped on green Elderberry berries.
An incredible Male Yellow Warbler gave us a walk along the edge of the road but we never got any satisfactory photos of his incredible stripes.
Flycatchers were everywhere, using fence lines to rest between flights out for insects. There were Western Wood-Pewees galore. One posed for us so much that we just had to give him extra space. We are having trouble identifying them, but hope that some of our contacts will give us help and we will try to remember to post the results.
Click below to hear the Western Wood-Pewee
Another highlight of the day was the wonderful Western Kingbirds that we encountered on both sides of the airport. They were amazing to watch and we had trouble trying to leave with the amount of sightings as we were driving away.
We are not authorities on birds, wildlife, plants, cameras or photography, if you are doing research on any subjects, please refer to a more educational site for advice and double-check whatever you research.
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