Escaping the heat: A trip to Grassy Hollow

It's been hot in Riverside and even the beaches, so we drove to the mountains to get cool. Grassy Hollow is one of our favorite places for a wide variety of mountain birds. The most surprising was the Lewis's Woodpecker, which took a long time to identify because it's a juvenile and not in full color.

There were also three chipmunks scurrying around.

Green-tailed Towhee


White-headed Woodpecker


Pygmy Nuthatches


White-breasted Nutchatch


Lewis's Woodpecker (Juvenile)


Stellar's jay


Mountain Chickadee


Chipmunk

Lewis's Woodpecker

Lewis's Woodpecker

A Lewis's Woodpecker has been reported at Glen Helen Regional Park the last two weekends. When the sun came out this morning, Chris and I thought we'd give it a try. The bird had been reported in the trees near the play ground. It took us about 5 minutes, but we found it near the playground and watched for about an hour as it fed in the area. It spent most of time in a tree without leaves right at the start of hole 17 of the Frisbee golf course.