March 7, 2008
Rebecca Kosten and I traveled south to Franktown to search for the Tundra Swans. When we arrived at the Walker Pit we only observed a few Common Goldeneyes, Redheads, and White-cheeked Geese on the ponds.
I thought about the history of the swans and wondered where they went when not on the Walker Pits? A search on Google Earth Pro did not find any bodies of water in the surrounding area. This presented quite a mystery.
For the fun of it, I drove to the west end of Walker Road and found the Douglas County Open Space (with bike/hiking path). We walked up this path for about 0.5 miles and could see most of the southern end of the south Walker Pit. Here also we found the 2 Tundra Swans against the south shore! Who knows how many times the swans have been missed and were so close?
We also noticed that we could scope the southern end of Walker Pits from Highway 83 and Whispering Pines Park Road. The birds were quite far away, but possible to see.
Our birding day ended at Cherry Creek Reservoir (Arapahoe). We scoped the ice shelf off the bird platform and found the 1st cycle Iceland Gull, 1st cycle & 4th cycle Lesser Black-backed Gulls, several California Gulls, and dozens of Ring-billed Gulls.
Rebecca Kosten and I traveled south to Franktown to search for the Tundra Swans. When we arrived at the Walker Pit we only observed a few Common Goldeneyes, Redheads, and White-cheeked Geese on the ponds.
I thought about the history of the swans and wondered where they went when not on the Walker Pits? A search on Google Earth Pro did not find any bodies of water in the surrounding area. This presented quite a mystery.
For the fun of it, I drove to the west end of Walker Road and found the Douglas County Open Space (with bike/hiking path). We walked up this path for about 0.5 miles and could see most of the southern end of the south Walker Pit. Here also we found the 2 Tundra Swans against the south shore! Who knows how many times the swans have been missed and were so close?
We also noticed that we could scope the southern end of Walker Pits from Highway 83 and Whispering Pines Park Road. The birds were quite far away, but possible to see.
Our birding day ended at Cherry Creek Reservoir (Arapahoe). We scoped the ice shelf off the bird platform and found the 1st cycle Iceland Gull, 1st cycle & 4th cycle Lesser Black-backed Gulls, several California Gulls, and dozens of Ring-billed Gulls.
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