Blue Grosbeak and Olive-sided Flycatcher at Cottonwood Creek in the Whites

Observers: Justin Hite
Email: justinhiteatgmaildotcom
Verification: MONO
Remote Name: 69.232.229.255
Date: 05/31/2007
Time: 05:04 PM -0400

Sighting

My mother and I joined a Friends of the Inyo trip to Cottonwood Creek on Sunday and Monday (May 27 and 28) t0 help work on a fence to keep cows out of the riparian corridor along Cottonwood Creek on the east side of the White Mountains. In about a mile and a half of creek, there were at least a half a dozen pairs of Bullock's Orioles building nests. A single Blue Grosbeak male was seen and heard singing upstream of the first main creek crossing. I'm not sure if this is a breeding bird in the area, or if he was just migranting through. There was also a silent Olive-side Flycatcher looking quite out of place in this sunblasted desert corner of Mono County.