October birding hike in Upper Purgatory

  Eleven of us hiked in to Upper Purgatory as the sun rose. It was much cooler and less humid than past months. Colton Robbins led the group as we passed Grandma’s Oak and headed northwest on Paraiso through a scrub meadow with several majestic live oaks and many huisache and mesquite trees.
   Trees the birds loved as they flew from tree-to-tree. In addition to guiding the hike and identifying the different birds, Colton provided the list of sightings from our outing which is also posted to eBird.  –LJ

Bird Sightings October 3, 2015

Binoculars at the ready as the birds were flying between the trees.

Common Ground-Dove  1
White-winged Dove  13
Chimney Swift  4
Ladder-backed Woodpecker  2
Crested Caracara  1
Eastern Phoebe  3
Blue-headed Vireo  1 Carolina Chickadee  8
Black-crested Titmouse  3
Verdin  1
Carolina Wren  2
Bewick’s Wren  4
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher  4
Ruby-crowned Kinglet  2
Northern Mockingbird  2
Nashville Warbler  1
Yellow Warbler  1
Wilson’s Warbler  1
Northern Cardinal  5
Red-winged Blackbird  6
House Finch  2
Lesser Goldfinch  5