Tuesday July 17, 2007
We woke up to a clear, cool morning and hiked back to our car. Again we found common birds, kept our eyes out for American Three-toed Woodpeckers and White-winged Crossbills; without seeing either. After heading back down Coffee Pot Road, Bryan saw a small dark bird fly across the road. Further inspection proved it to be a Purple Martin. We followed in into the woods, but could not locate additional Purple Martins.
We stopped every 0.25 miles, listened for birds and recorded what we observed and heard (GPS waypoints taken). At stop number 10 (south of FR 600 & the road to White Owl Lake) we hiked up a trail (I believe it was TR 1852). At 0.4 miles up TR 1852, we heard the distinct drumming of an American Three-toed Woodpecker. Quick we were able to pick it up and follow it as he worked his way northeast along the trail.
Once back at I70 we turned west and headed to Cameo (decided to leave a trip to Ripple Pass for another trip).
We reluctantly passed Hanging Lake as neither of us was up to the 1.5 mile steep hike. It is a beautiful little spot and birders do see Black Swifts flying overhead. We thought the time of day was wrong for a swift sighting. Early morning or late evening definitely increases one’s chance of a sighting.
We allowed two hours to explore Garfield Creek Wildlife Area (Garfield County). Our luck was holding as public access is only July 16-November 30. Vegetation is a mix of riparian, sage, pinon-juniper, oak brush, open meadows, cultivated fields, and coniferous forest.
We found 2 or 3 Sage Thrashers and half a dozen Brewer's Sparrows. However we missed on our target sparrow, any Black-throated Sparrows. The prize however was a Sage Sparrow! He perched on a bush for a good 2 minutes! To show the diversity of this large State Wildlife Area, later a Dusky Grouse rushed across the trail for us!
Our arrival to Cameo was timed for 30 minutes before sunset. A covey of Chukars (2 females and 7-9 young) were south of the old broken down stone building. We heard a Pinyon Jay but never saw it? A Black-throated Sparrow did come out of the bushes and sing for us.
We now started our heavy owling part of the trip.
Tonight we got GPS waypoints on 5 Boreal Owls and a Northern Saw-whet Owl. One of the Boreal Owls and the Northern Saw-whet Owl were near the Spruce Grove Campgrounds. Another was 0.2 miles east of the Visitor’s Center.
We woke up to a clear, cool morning and hiked back to our car. Again we found common birds, kept our eyes out for American Three-toed Woodpeckers and White-winged Crossbills; without seeing either. After heading back down Coffee Pot Road, Bryan saw a small dark bird fly across the road. Further inspection proved it to be a Purple Martin. We followed in into the woods, but could not locate additional Purple Martins.
We stopped every 0.25 miles, listened for birds and recorded what we observed and heard (GPS waypoints taken). At stop number 10 (south of FR 600 & the road to White Owl Lake) we hiked up a trail (I believe it was TR 1852). At 0.4 miles up TR 1852, we heard the distinct drumming of an American Three-toed Woodpecker. Quick we were able to pick it up and follow it as he worked his way northeast along the trail.
Once back at I70 we turned west and headed to Cameo (decided to leave a trip to Ripple Pass for another trip).
We reluctantly passed Hanging Lake as neither of us was up to the 1.5 mile steep hike. It is a beautiful little spot and birders do see Black Swifts flying overhead. We thought the time of day was wrong for a swift sighting. Early morning or late evening definitely increases one’s chance of a sighting.
We allowed two hours to explore Garfield Creek Wildlife Area (Garfield County). Our luck was holding as public access is only July 16-November 30. Vegetation is a mix of riparian, sage, pinon-juniper, oak brush, open meadows, cultivated fields, and coniferous forest.
We found 2 or 3 Sage Thrashers and half a dozen Brewer's Sparrows. However we missed on our target sparrow, any Black-throated Sparrows. The prize however was a Sage Sparrow! He perched on a bush for a good 2 minutes! To show the diversity of this large State Wildlife Area, later a Dusky Grouse rushed across the trail for us!
Our arrival to Cameo was timed for 30 minutes before sunset. A covey of Chukars (2 females and 7-9 young) were south of the old broken down stone building. We heard a Pinyon Jay but never saw it? A Black-throated Sparrow did come out of the bushes and sing for us.
We now started our heavy owling part of the trip.
Tonight we got GPS waypoints on 5 Boreal Owls and a Northern Saw-whet Owl. One of the Boreal Owls and the Northern Saw-whet Owl were near the Spruce Grove Campgrounds. Another was 0.2 miles east of the Visitor’s Center.
No comments:
Post a Comment