Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Birding Along the Highline Canal

January 8, 2008

I decided to look for the 2 White-throated Sparrows reported yesterday by Pam Tarrall and John Breitsch along the Highline Canal near the footbridge at the Dahlia Street parking area. It was sunny but colder than yesterday; winds were 7-10+ mph.

I walked the highline canal from the footbridge south about 0.5 miles and back twice. On the third trip I found a White-throated Sparrow in the Buckthorn bushes on the west side of the trail and just south of the green trash can. As I watched the sparrow, Gary Weston came by and we watched the sparrow fly across the canal. When we left, it was in the bushes over the small stream flowing into the canal. This was a little further south (the stream appeared to flow from the yard with the large pond which had many geese and ducks.

We then hiked north to Quincy Avenue to look for the Eastern Screech-Owl that we had found a couple of weeks ago on a metro Screech Owl count that CoBus had conducted. We were able to relocate one of the two Eastern Screech-Owls (between the Dahlia Street parking area and Quincy Avenue).

When we reached the bend in the trail (just south of the sign about private property of Kent School) a Northern Mockingbird popped out of the bushes (east side of trail). We were watching 5 Black-capped Chickadees, 30+ Cedar Waxwings, and 2 dozen American Robins. The second Northern Mockingbird I have seen in two days!

I left Gary at Quincy Avenue where he had parked and returned South. Three Bushtits were at the southern end of the ranch on the west side of the trail (south of Quincy and north of the small Wildlife Area). I talked to the owner and she said that the Bushtits usually show up in the afternoon. She has seen nests in the summer for several years now.

Other birds encountered on the trip back included 3 White-breasted Nuthatches, 2 Red-breasted Nuthatches, and a Brown Creeper.

I had some work to do at the Denver Museum Nature and Science Library and took the opportunity to search for the White-throated Sparrow reported several months ago at the Denver Zoo (east side of Bird cages, east of Bird building). I missed it for the 3rd time. There were plenty of House Sparrows around.

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