June Birds

June was in fact in interesting month as far as birds go for me.  I spent time in the Ozarks, as well as in the Grand Canyon and the gulf coast of Florida.  All these destinations led to some extraordinary birds, even if I did dip on the California Condor and somehow still can’t seem to find my nemesis bird, the roadrunner.  However, even though I spent very little time dedicated only to birding, I managed to add several life birds*.  My list for the month of June:

1.  Chuck-will’s-widow – heard repeatedly all around Echo Bluff State Park.
2. American redstart
3. Yellow-billed cuckoo
4. Cerulean warbler – seemed very appropriately located along the spring branch of Blue Spring along the Current River.
5. Bobwhite
6. Common Raven
7. *Virginia warbler – observed in mixed forest on north rim of Grand Canyon
8. *Pinyon jay – Seen while on rim to rim hike below within the inner gorge of the Grand Canyon.
9. Stellar’s jay – Always cool to see
10. *Western Bluebird – North rim Grand Canyon National Park
11. Mountain chickadee
12. *Pygmy nuthatch – almost everywhere on the north rim of Grand Canyon
13. Black-headed grosbeak – common on the North Kaibab trail in the Grand Canyon
14. Yellow warbler – somehow did not see in Missouri this year, but all over along creek bottoms in Arizona and Utah.
15. *Yellow-eyed junco – again, common on the north rim.
16. *Gilded flicker – Several throughout Arizona
17. American dipper – in Bright Angel Creek in the Grand Canyon, but also a nest at head height in the Virgin River while hiking the Narrows in Zion National Park.  There were people everywhere and the parent birds landed within arm’s reach of me several times.
18. Spotted towhee
19. *Cassin’s Kingbird – Observed 2 individuals repeatedly at Zion Mountain Ranch outside Zion National Park.
20. Black-chinned hummingbird
21. *Woodhouse Scrub Jay – Really fun to watch this individual chase grasshoppers at Zion Mountain Ranch.
22. Violet-green swallow
23. Western kingbird
24. Cattle egret
25. Brown Pelican
26. Least tern – EVERYWHERE along Navarre Beach, FL including several nesting birds.
27. Black skimmer – Several nesting birds observed in Navarre Beach, FL.
28. Laughing gull
29. Eurasian-collared dove
30. Black tern
31. Royal tern
32. Forster’s tern

I think that this gets me up to 168 species for the year.  No way I will hit my target of 300 birds for the year, but there are plenty of easy birds to get still so I am going to keep pushing along.  Who knows, I may even chase a few that show up on any online bird lists this month as it looks like I may have a bit more time to spend in Missouri!