October 15, 2007
Randy Cross and I decided to try owling in the Montezuma, CO area (Summit County). We wanted to hike up the Saints John Trail (toward Glacier Mountain) and Hunkidori Trail. We arrived to discover that the area had received a foot of snow the day before. Lacking the proper equipment, we only hiked about 0.5 miles of the trails and did not locate any owls.
Our backup plan was to see if we could find any White-tailed Ptarmigan on Loveland Pass (Clear Creek). Winds had blown off most of the snow up there, especially on the east side. We hiked up about 1.5 miles and back and found 2 White-tailed Ptarmigan on the return trip. Guess we were about 0.75 miles from our vehicle (GPS) on the trail to the top of Mt. Sniktau and therefore in Clear Creek County.
A flock of 7-9 Mountain Bluebirds flew around the evergreens on the west side of Highway 6. Several American Pipits were also still around the area, no Rosy Finches though.
For the past four years I have wanted to hike the ridge to the west along the continental divide and then drop down into Loveland Ski Basin (about a 4 mile hike). Preferably when there is a thin layer of snow on the trail so to make finding White-tailed Ptarmigan a little easier. It is always easier to find them by looking for their tracks in the snow rather than their well camouflaged bodies in snow or granite rocks (depending upon the season).
The kink in this plan has been that when the area gets its first snow, it is usually several feet. Avalanche danger has discouraged any attempt of the plan. Perhaps this will be the year? Snow is predicted for Tuesday and Wednesday and if not too deep, we plan to give it a try.
After our Loveland Pass trek we headed into Dillon and checked local feeders. No Rosy Finches, Evening Grosbeaks, or Pine Grosbeak were about. We did see Gray Jay, Clark's Nutcracker, Mountain Chickadee, Black-capped Chickadee, Pine Siskin, Downy Woodpecker, and Hairy Woodpecker. A Band-tailed Pigeon would have been nice; but found none of them around either.
The city park in Georgetown was quiet also as was Silver Plume. A quick stop at Genesee Mountain Park (Jefferson) did not find any Williamson's Sapsuckers.
Randy Cross and I decided to try owling in the Montezuma, CO area (Summit County). We wanted to hike up the Saints John Trail (toward Glacier Mountain) and Hunkidori Trail. We arrived to discover that the area had received a foot of snow the day before. Lacking the proper equipment, we only hiked about 0.5 miles of the trails and did not locate any owls.
Our backup plan was to see if we could find any White-tailed Ptarmigan on Loveland Pass (Clear Creek). Winds had blown off most of the snow up there, especially on the east side. We hiked up about 1.5 miles and back and found 2 White-tailed Ptarmigan on the return trip. Guess we were about 0.75 miles from our vehicle (GPS) on the trail to the top of Mt. Sniktau and therefore in Clear Creek County.
A flock of 7-9 Mountain Bluebirds flew around the evergreens on the west side of Highway 6. Several American Pipits were also still around the area, no Rosy Finches though.
For the past four years I have wanted to hike the ridge to the west along the continental divide and then drop down into Loveland Ski Basin (about a 4 mile hike). Preferably when there is a thin layer of snow on the trail so to make finding White-tailed Ptarmigan a little easier. It is always easier to find them by looking for their tracks in the snow rather than their well camouflaged bodies in snow or granite rocks (depending upon the season).
The kink in this plan has been that when the area gets its first snow, it is usually several feet. Avalanche danger has discouraged any attempt of the plan. Perhaps this will be the year? Snow is predicted for Tuesday and Wednesday and if not too deep, we plan to give it a try.
After our Loveland Pass trek we headed into Dillon and checked local feeders. No Rosy Finches, Evening Grosbeaks, or Pine Grosbeak were about. We did see Gray Jay, Clark's Nutcracker, Mountain Chickadee, Black-capped Chickadee, Pine Siskin, Downy Woodpecker, and Hairy Woodpecker. A Band-tailed Pigeon would have been nice; but found none of them around either.
The city park in Georgetown was quiet also as was Silver Plume. A quick stop at Genesee Mountain Park (Jefferson) did not find any Williamson's Sapsuckers.
No comments:
Post a Comment