As I said

earlier

when you can, even in the middle of a family wedding, do sneak out for a couple of hours if you are in a mountain resort…because the results can be wonderful!

Disclaimer: It was rainy and misty, but there were a couple of brief interludes of sunlight….and remember, I had MLC2, not any DSLR! :)

Apart from the RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRD in the post above (and let me tell you, that took up a LOT of those two hours!), there were so many other birds…all common ones, no doubt, but all new to me.

Once again, thanks to

Dave Pierce

who is truly an experienced birder. Unstintingly, he gave me help with the id’s….if you click on that link, you will see what excellent work he is doing in other fields, too.

I didn’t walk very far…just an area of, perhaps, half, or one square kilometre….and a LOT of the sightings were in a couple of pine trees…..

I saw large groups of

DARK-EYED JUNCOS

and watched them flit, sparrow-like, from ground to bushes, in a cloud that felt like a reverse fall of leaves. Here’s one male:

Here he is, a little closer:

And here's a female or juvenile one: This one, Dave says, could be a COWBIRD : Then, of course, there were the AMERICAN GOLDFINCHES I saw an AMERICAN RAVEN fly past, and heard its racuous call, so when, in the rain and mist, I saw a bird, I took a quick shot, thinking it was a raven. It was only later that I realized that it was actually a juvenile RED-TAILED HAWK .... Seems to be drying its damp feathers! There was also a p LESSER GOLDFINCH (according to Dave, a pale female!) I found this LINCOLN'S SPARROW ....and just to show that the Indian birds have sent word about me to their American counterpart, this RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRD was mooning me as usual!

Even the birds I thought I had seen before…I actually hadn’t! This bird, I thought, was the

COMMON GRACKLE

but no, it was, Dave informs me, the

BREWER’S BLACKBIRD !

So many birds in about an hour (one hour was just spent with those delightful hummingbirds!!)…how I wish I had a little longer in that beautiful place!