200 Birds

Yesterday I went snowshoeing at Beaver Mountain. Some friends had thought they saw a flock of Pine Grosbeaks up there a couple of weeks ago, so we were hoping to relocate them. Unfortunately, we didn't see anything too remarkable. Perhaps all the snowmobilers had chased off the good birds. The biggest surprise was a flock of California Gulls flying over, far from any open water or trash, and probably headed to Bear Lake. We did see three subspecies of Dark-eyed Junco (mostly Pink-sided with at least one Slate-colored and one Oregon), including one partial leucistic bird with white patches throughout its plumage. There were also one Ruby-crowned Kinglet flashing its crest and many Red-breasted Nuthatches (photo above) singing to each other.