"Low elevation" Pine Grosbeak at High Grade Road, Jefferson Co

[David Suddjian]

Now much bird reporting is happening on the list, so I thought I'd chime in with a report of Pine Grosbeak this morning at 7,150' elevation in Ponderosa / Douglas-fir forest along High Grade Road in Jeff Co near Littleton. eBird does not have any other records for the county between mid-Aug to late Oct, and most are from late winter into early spring.

David Suddjian

Littleton CO

[Brad Dobson]

Interesting. We had a number of Steller's Jays here recently on the west side of
Loveland and I see a number of reports further East, almost all
2026: I usually have to get up into the forest a little more to see them.

> --

[Patrick O'Driscoll]

Having had visits from both a Steller's J and a Woodhouse's S-J in my east-central Denver backyard earlier this month, is the prevailing opinion that lack of food (drought?) in their usual habitat may be driving more of these and other higher-country species down here to the Plains?

Patrick O'Driscoll

Denver

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[jim_tyler]

Last week in Roxborough saw a Stellar's Jay in the back yard for only the 3rd time in nearly 30 years.

Jim Tyler
Roxborough

[David Suddjian]

Yes, I think the wild food situation may be leading these jays to move around to areas where they are rare or uncommon. But where they are coming from could be anyone's guess. Esp. since the scrub-jays are still numerous in the hogbacks and the lowest foothill habitat at the edge of the Front Range, which is their core zone. So they haven't left that area to move into town, but feeders seem to be a draw.

David Suddjian

Littleton, CO

[Brandon]

The mountain birds are invading nearby Oklahoma and Kansas too this month.  The big news in Oklahoma was the first state record American Three-toed Woodpecker near Felt, Oklahoma on Sept 9-10.  Also, flocks of Clark’s Nutcrackers, Steller’s, Pinyon, and Woodhouse’s Scrub-Jays, Evening Grosbeak, Red Crossbill, Lewis’s Woodpecker, Williamson’s and Red-named Sapsuckers, Mountain Chickadee, Calliope and Broad-tailed Hummingbirds, Green-tailed Towhees, various western empids (Gray, Hammond’s, Dusky Flycatchers), Townsend’s Warblers all in Cimarron County, Oklahoma this month.  I am guessing Cassin’s Finch and Pine Grosbeak might be coming soon too, and who knows what else.  Morton County in southwest Kansas had both Pinyon and Woodhouse’s Scrub-Jays, Evening Grosbeak as well this month.  The birds in Aspen Acres Fire area in the Wet Mountains are certainly moving around.  Keep reporting lowland mountain birds to eBird and cobirds, it is interesting to hear where these birds are wandering this fall.

Brandon K. Percival
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