Date: 9/22/26 2:34 pm From: Florence Sanchez via groups.io <sanchezucsb11...> Subject: [sbcobirding] La Cumbre Peak Septemer 22
A much better day for viewing than foggy yesterday. Steve Colwell and I birded the Peak area first, then went down to the grove below the peak for a while.
Lots of bird activity, including fly-overs of Clarks' Nutcracker, not in the astounding numbers of earlier in the month but still quite visible. One flock of about 30 birds circled round the peak and many of them landed in the pines, providing excellent opportunities for photos and hearing the grating calls. Other species found at the Peak included Western Wood-Pewee, both White-breasted and Red-breasted Nuthatches, a Mountain Chickadee, Western Tanagers, and chaparral species like Wrentit and Spotted Towhee.
We ran into Nick Lethaby at the Peak. He indicated he may have had a couple of early flocks of Evening Grosbeaks well below the Peak but they were very distant. While we were watching, we had Cassin's Finches fly into the dead pine below. Steve, a birder from Michigan, and I decided to bird from that location, so we drove down, parked near the faint trail that leads up through the grove, and hiked to the edge of the forest near to the dead pine tree. We stayed there for about an hour, saw lots of Cassin's Finches fly into the dead pine as well as 2 Olive-sided Flycatchers, but did not see any Grosbeaks during the time we spent.
Florence Sanchez (PS--We went to Elings Park afterwards but as reported from other birders, we did not turn up the Sprague's Pipit seen earlier in the week.)
Florence Sanchez
