Brown-capped Rosy Finch

Scientific Name: Leucosticte australis

Population Estimate: 45K

Range / Habitat: Year round above the tree line in mountain peaks of western Colorado.

Field Notes: Medium-sized finch. Cinnamon-brown on back, breast, neck, and face. Black forehead. Red or pink on belly, rump, and in wings. Unmistakable in range -- the highest bird on the mountain.

Personal Notes: Seen at the summit of Pike's Peak.

Hammond's Flycatcher

Scientific Name: Empidonax hammondii

Population Estimate: 13M, Least Concern status

Range / Habitat: Full migrant from montane forest in American West, Canada, and Alaska down to Mexico and Central America.

Field Notes: Olive-colored flycatcher with broad white eye ring, prominent white wing bars, bicolored bill. Similar to Dusky Flycatcher and Grey Flycatcher, but Hammond's nests at higher elevation. Best distinguished by voice.

Personal Notes: A resident bird at Barr Camp on Pike's Peak. Later seen at the higher altitudes on Deseret Ranch, Utah. 

Steller's Jay

Scientific Name: Cyanocitta stelleri

Population Estimate: 4.4M

Range / Habitat: Year-round in montane evergreen forests of western North America, Canada and Mexico.

Field Notes: Noisy, inquisitive and conspicuous like most jays. Coloration is quite dark -- black head and neck with crest and bright blue body. No white markings.

Personal Notes: Richard had been trying to get a photo of this bird for some time. We were finally rewarded at Barr Camp on Pike's Peak. A fitting end to the summer in Wyoming (bottom photo). The top photo was from a group of more subdued jays in Apache-Sitgreaves Forests in Arizona and better demonstrates the plumage and crest. 

Broad-tailed Hummingbird

Scientific Name: Selasphorus Platycercus

Population Estimate: 4M

Range / Habitat: A bird of subalpine areas found year-round in the mountainous regions of central Mexico and summers in the Rockies.

Field Notes: Unfortunately, the above photo does not show the most distinctive features of this bird. In the right light the male has a rosy red chin with broad tail. The hum of the wings is also unique, quite loud. The photo does show the white line running from the chin to eye to neck. They also have which outer rectrices seen in flight. The Broad-tailed's range overlaps with the Black-chinned Hummingbird (which looks all black-headed), Calliope Hummingbird (very small hummingbird, males with unmistakable streaked rosy gorget), and Rufous Hummingbird (later migrant, males with rufous coloring).

Personal Notes: As with many hummingbirds, we have encountered the Broad-tailed away from feeders as well. They were just much harder to photograph in the "wild"!