Saturday, July 28, 2007

White Owl Lake

Monday July 16, 2007

Next morning we hiked parts of Coffee Pot Road finding the usual suspects (Cassin's Finch, Red Crossbill, Gray Jay, Pine Siskin, Williamson's Sapsucker, Pine Siskin, Hermit Thrush, Swainson's Thrush, Yellow-rumped Warbler, etc. Bryan thought he heard a Veery? We would have liked to see it as Veeries are reported rare in Garfield County except for the extreme southeastern corner.

We checked several unnamed ponds (on our maps anyway) on the trip toward our goal “White Owl Lake”. We wanted to spend the night there to investigate possible Boreal Owl sightings/hearings.

Near dusk, we first heard and then saw a nice number of Common Nighthawks. A Lesser Nighthawk would have been nice; but that never happened. We also missed finding any American Three-toed Woodpeckers or Dusky Grouse.

Our anticipation was gratified as we heard a Boreal Owl calling around White Owl Lake around 10:00pm. A second owl much further away may have answered the first. Neither owl was ever seen.

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