BlueRavenBirders

5/28/22
Questing for Cassia Crossbills

Melinda and I prepared for this birding adventure by listening to bird calls for expected birds and practicing the whole birding by ear thing. We’ve been doing this for several years now and are getting better. She’s so much better at it than I am and I think it has to do with music. She plays piano/organ on a regular basis and has had years of lessons in voice and piano. I think it makes a real difference in the musical memory. Between us we do pretty well especially if we’ve practiced. Anytime we know we’ll be in a forest we look up the birds seen on eBird and on past lists and then practice.

Green tailed towhee

A damp red tailed hawk

Empidonax flycatcher (I think it’s a Cordilleran because of it’s song and location)

Vesper sparrow

Birds

1. Red winged blackbirds
2. Brewers blackbirds
3. Mountain bluebird
4. Black capped chickadee
5. Cassia crossbill
6. American crows
7. Mourning doves
8. Northern flicker
9. Cordilleran flycatcher
10. Rose breasted grosbeak
11. Black headed grosbeak
12. Red tailed hawks
13. Dark eyed juncos
14. American kestrels
15. Killdeer
16. Black billed magpies
17. Western meadowlark
18. Common ravens
19. American robins
20. Pine siskins
21. Song sparrow
22. Vesper sparrows
23. European starlings
24. Green tailed towhee
25. Macgillivray’s warbler
26. Yellow rumped warblers