Saturday, June 7, 2008

Rocky Mountain Arsenal

June 6, 2008

Richard Stevens:

Rebecca Kosten and I rode our bikes along Buckley Road between 56th and 88th avenues and back (8 miles).

We found Burrowing Owls both in Denver County (the field just north of the cell phone building, east side of Buckley) and Adams County (just outside the 80th avenue gate).

We hoped to find the previously reported Lark Buntings but did not have success with that. We did find a couple of interesting birds. A Northern Mockingbird was in Denver County (west side of Buckley) at 7 telephone poles south of the old Eagle Watch Bunker (about a mile north of 56th avenue). A Loggerhead Shrike was at 6 telephone poles south of the bunker.

Another highlight was a Cassin's Kingbird among the dozens of Western Kingbirds observed along our trek. The Cassin's Kingbird went from the chain link fence to the trees close to the fence at about 9 telephone poles south of the Eagle Watch Bunker. We watched closely to see if there were two (and possible breeding behavior). Only the one was observed in the 30 minutes we watched. It would be interesting to return and see if a second and possible mate could be located.

Other birds seen along the ride included: Bullock's Orioles, Song Sparrows, White-crowned Sparrows, Lark Sparrows, Vesper Sparrows, American Robins, 6 Eastern Kingbirds, 2 American Kestrels, and a Prairie Falcon. No Ferruginous Hawks were found today.

After we returned to the car, we headed over to the DIA Owl Loop. A pair of American Avocet surprised us at the small "puddle" just east of the entrance to the Pena Park and Ride (south of 40th avenue and east of Pena Blvd).

The Burrowing Owl count ended up to be 13 owls. No Short-eared Owls made an appearance this evening.


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