OVENBIRD, East Lake Trail, Eagle County

[Eric DeFonso]

This morning, while hiking back from an early morning survey not far from the New York Mountain area in Eagle County, I had a singing OVENBIRD along the Dead Dog Trail offshoot (FT #2220) from the East Lake Trail (#1880) at around 9100' elevation. I believe this to be a 1st county record for Eagle.

I've linked audio of the singing bird in the checklist below. It's probably on territory so should be re-findable. It's about a half hour hike from the trailhead to this spot, with about 900' elevation gain. The location for the list is a pin to this exact spot.

https://ebird.org/checklist/S114398822

The included photo shows the spot I found the bird in. As you can see it was spruce-fir, mostly all subalpine fir. I was quite surprised to encounter this bird, to say the least. I saw it briefly, and it was moving about in the branches 10-20 feet off the ground while singing.

Eric

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Eric DeFonso
near Lyons, Boulder County, CO