Western Slope

Tuesday July 3, 2007

Bryan Ehlmann and I left Denver late yesterday afternoon. We went owling south of De Beque and well before sunrise and heard 3 Northern Saw-whet Owls calling.

Early morning we waited for the Lawrence’s Goldfinch to show up at Larry Arnold’s home in Grand Junction. We were quite fortunate that it only took 10 minutes. We watched the bird for another 10 minutes and headed out.

Our plan was to hike into Bangs Canyon; count birds, and records any nesting birds. Bangs Canyon is only a few miles south of Grand Junction. However, we have never heard of any bird reports from the area; we hoped to break new ground. Bangs Canyon is only 8 miles from Grand Junction, but rather isolated. A perfect place to escape the coming holiday crowd.

The habitat is Juniper-Pinyon “forest”, Sagebrush, Aspen, and Douglas Fir. Bryan’s jeep greatly helped us to access the roadless areas. Access is off of Little Park Road. You first cross Rough Canyon and then enter the West Bangs Canyon in another 3 miles and Bangs Canyon in another 2 miles.

We did make an hour hike along Rough Canyon. It had some water and advertised Indian pictographs. Birds were scarce, but we had been warned that birding on the western slope in the summer can be difficult. Birds hide from the heat. One western slope birder told me that their food supply becomes scarce because they die in the heat (that statement would be interesting to explore).

We had planned to hike down Bangs Canyon to the Gunnison River (approximately 7 miles) then return by way of West Bangs Canyon. We took plenty of water and sunscreen. However, the heat was tremendous. Regular temperature was 96 degrees and the warm rocks, reflecting sun, and no wind must have raised the temperatures to 110+. We reluctantly, but jointly decided to turn around when Bang Canyon met West Bang Canyon. Adding another 6-7 miles to the trip seemed unnecessary (especially since bird numbers were not huge).

We did find a few Black-throated Sparrows, 2 Sage Sparrows, Brewer’s Sparrows, Ash-throated Flycatchers, a Northern Mockingbird, and 2 Gray Flycatchers. We can safely say that all those species nest in the area. If Chukars were in the area (and why not) we did not locate any. We would also expect Sage Thrashers and maybe Scott's Orioles, but none were observed.

By the time we got back to our motel, we had used up all our energy for the day.

Wednesday July 4, 2007

Our other goal of the trip was to hike and camp along the Crag Crest National Recreational Trail. The trail is on the Grand Mesa (in Delta County, but just barely). It is a 10 mile loop that offers great possibilities for bird sightings. The trail has an elevation of approximately 10,100 to 11,200. Again, we did not pick the best time of year to hike the trail; it figured to be cooler than yesterday and down in Grand Junction (but not by much). Again we had much water, but also carried the best water filter I could purchase.

We started at the Crag Crest parking area and planned to hike to Eggleston Lake Campground, spend the night and return to our jeep the next day. We wanted to explore as much of the bird population as possible and get in some owling.

The view along the Crag Crest Trail is alone worth the effort and time. What a fantastic view of the surrounding area. From the ridge about 11,000 feet you can see Cottonwood Lakes and Book Cliffs to the north; to the south are Butts Lake, the San Juans, and West Elk Mountains.

I could talk about the view for hours. The diversity of birds was good also. Along the trek the first day we found Red-naped Sapsuckers, a Williamson's Sapsucker, Downy Woodpecker, and Hairy Woodpeckers. The prize however was an American Three-toed Woodpecker! We only had one, but it was a male, yellow crown and all! We watched and searched hoping to see some evidence of nesting or a female. After an hour we continued up the trail.

The second prize of the trip was a pair of Purple Martins flying by. We tried to follow, but lost them. They were near the junction of the Crag Crest Trail and Cottonwood Lakes Trail.

Other birds seen in the Engelmann Spruce forest were Red-breasted Nuthatches, a Brown Creeper, Cordilleran Flycatcher, Hammond's Flycatcher, Olive-sided Flycatcher, Western Wood-pewee, plenty of Steller's Jays, 2 Gray Jays, a Clark's Nutcracker, a Northern Goshawk, Broad-tailed Hummingbird, American Crow, Common Raven, and Mountain Chickadee.

When we arrived at Eggleston Lake there was a Spotted Sandpiper walking the shore. Definitely the highest one we had ever observed (GPS: 10,648 feet).

After dark we wandered back north and east and then down to the Crag Crest Campgrounds. Only one owl, a Flammulated Owl, answered our playback. Several areas looked good for Boreal Owls; none called tonight.

Thursday July 5, 2007

Got up late morning (having gone to sleep just after sunrise), we debated on whether to stay around for another night and go owling again. Finally it was decided that we would come back in a couple of weeks and try then.

We continued our loop from Eggleston Lake west to Crag Crest Trail and back to our car. The trail here goes through woods and a few open meadows. Birds added to our Grand Mesa trip list included; Violet-green Swallow, Tree Swallow (surprisingly we could not remember seeing one yesterday), Yellow-rumped Warbler, Orange-crowned Warbler, American Pipit, and a MacGillivray's Warbler!

Back at Island Lake we found White-crowned Sparrow, Lincoln's Sparrow, Chipping Sparrow, Dark-eyed Junco, Cassin's Finch, and 3 Red Crossbills. A White-winged Crossbill would have been nice; no such luck.
We returned to the De Beque area and drove to the western end of South Shale Ridge. The area is a multicolored escarpment with Douglas Firs at the western end. Surely there are some owls nesting there, but none were found this night. The area definitely calls for further exploration.

Friday July 6, 2007

We rose late and headed back toward Denver. Owling the past month had caught up to us physically. We needed a rest. However, we had one last place to checkout first. Years ago when I climbed Mount of the Holy Cross, I was intrigued by the campground area. It was not difficult to talk Bryan into one last night of owling.

The campgrounds are a beautiful riparian area below Mt of the Holy Cross. I had climbed the mountain about ten years ago and enjoyed it much. The one problem is that the campgrounds require a 7.5 mile hike. A gain and lost of 900 feet of elevation does make the hike easy if one is carrying 50 pounds of equipment. We were high enough that the air was almost cold. No summer storms approached tonight; it was quite a pleasant experience.

Wilson's, MacGillivray's, and Virginia's Warblers were in the surrounding willows. Pine Siskins, Yellow-rumped Warblers, and Broad-tailed Hummingbird zipped among the pines. Several Hermit Thrushes sang near dusk. Finally dark came and we were able to go owling.

A pair of Great Horned Owls called back and forth just before dark. We hoped that they would not scare off any smaller owls. We hiked about 2 miles in the dark (previously scouted so we had an idea about the terrain).

Two Northern Pygmy-Owls called from one location. Further up the trail a Flammulated Owl answered our playback recordings. Early in the morning, we heard the Great Horned Owls again. It would be enjoyable to spend 3 to 5 days up here investigating the area. Perhaps Boreal Owls nesting further up the slopes? The area definitely deserves further study.