December 7, 2008
Richard Stevens:
Did anyone hear/mention what day this is? The day that will live in infamy. I did not hear or see anything about it. But it should not be forgotten; the great sacrifice that so many people made for our freedom. Thanks to all of them!
I started a long day of birding at 4:30am by walking a mile of the Highline Canal. A local landowner had turned me on to Eastern Screech-Owls in her neighborhood. It only took 10 minutes to find one! Unless it moved, a second Eastern Screech-Owl answered my recordings and the first owl.
I stopped by Fort Logan National Cemetery to see if the Greater Scaup were still there. The only Scaup found on Memorial Lake were a male and 2 female Lesser Scaup. There were thousands of White-cheeked Geese on the property. Quite a few of them were Cackling Geese. It amazes me how small many of them were. Some looked smaller than Mallards.
At Veteran's Lake (the western lake) a small Ross's Goose was with hundreds of Cackling Geese. The Cackling Geese were almost as small as the Ross's Goose. They eventually flew across Sheridan Blvd to the Pines Golf Course. Hopefully they returned to the cemetery after eating.
My next stop was Marston Reservoir (Denver County). I scoped the lake well from the east side. A raft of ducks included 9 Redheads, 5 Lesser Scaup, and 2 Greater Scaup. Common Mergansers, a couple of Red-breasted Mergansers, Western Grebes, and 2 Clark's Grebes were also found.
From the western side of Marston I found 2 Tundra Swans close to the shore. Definitely Tundra Swans, they eventually swam back to the middle of the lake where Tina Jones saw them later.
My next stop of the day was a long one. I went brain dead in the beautiful weather (calm winds and temperatures that reached into the middle 60s) and decided to circle Chatfield Reservoir (Jefferson/Douglas).
For those familiar with the reservoir, it is a pretty long walk. I was up for that, but had not considered that the only bridge across Plum Creek is quite far south of the lake. My GPS unit said that I hiked 10.5 miles (it seemed much farther hiking up and down the hills).
It was a beautiful day though. One downside was the lack of birds. I counted 48 birds on the water and the surrounding woods only added another 21 birds. Sixty-nine birds were the total! The highlight was a Common Loon below the Heron Viewing Area.
I guessed the recent snowstorm had moved out most of the birds. I suppose if I had stayed until dark, White-cheeked Geese and gulls would have returned from their daily foraging. I only saw 9 gulls (all Ring-billed) the entire hike.
My day ended with a "cool down hike" at South Platte Park (Arapahoe). I walked the 0.5 miles south from the Carson Visitor's Center to the Duck blind to see if I could relocate the Harris's Sparrow. When I arrive at the blind there were no sparrows to be found. Not even the couple of Song Sparrows observed previously in the surrounding cattails. A male Belted Kingfisher rattled at me constantly during my search.
Great day for December! The warm weather won't stay forever.
Richard Stevens:
Did anyone hear/mention what day this is? The day that will live in infamy. I did not hear or see anything about it. But it should not be forgotten; the great sacrifice that so many people made for our freedom. Thanks to all of them!
I started a long day of birding at 4:30am by walking a mile of the Highline Canal. A local landowner had turned me on to Eastern Screech-Owls in her neighborhood. It only took 10 minutes to find one! Unless it moved, a second Eastern Screech-Owl answered my recordings and the first owl.
I stopped by Fort Logan National Cemetery to see if the Greater Scaup were still there. The only Scaup found on Memorial Lake were a male and 2 female Lesser Scaup. There were thousands of White-cheeked Geese on the property. Quite a few of them were Cackling Geese. It amazes me how small many of them were. Some looked smaller than Mallards.
At Veteran's Lake (the western lake) a small Ross's Goose was with hundreds of Cackling Geese. The Cackling Geese were almost as small as the Ross's Goose. They eventually flew across Sheridan Blvd to the Pines Golf Course. Hopefully they returned to the cemetery after eating.
My next stop was Marston Reservoir (Denver County). I scoped the lake well from the east side. A raft of ducks included 9 Redheads, 5 Lesser Scaup, and 2 Greater Scaup. Common Mergansers, a couple of Red-breasted Mergansers, Western Grebes, and 2 Clark's Grebes were also found.
From the western side of Marston I found 2 Tundra Swans close to the shore. Definitely Tundra Swans, they eventually swam back to the middle of the lake where Tina Jones saw them later.
My next stop of the day was a long one. I went brain dead in the beautiful weather (calm winds and temperatures that reached into the middle 60s) and decided to circle Chatfield Reservoir (Jefferson/Douglas).
For those familiar with the reservoir, it is a pretty long walk. I was up for that, but had not considered that the only bridge across Plum Creek is quite far south of the lake. My GPS unit said that I hiked 10.5 miles (it seemed much farther hiking up and down the hills).
It was a beautiful day though. One downside was the lack of birds. I counted 48 birds on the water and the surrounding woods only added another 21 birds. Sixty-nine birds were the total! The highlight was a Common Loon below the Heron Viewing Area.
I guessed the recent snowstorm had moved out most of the birds. I suppose if I had stayed until dark, White-cheeked Geese and gulls would have returned from their daily foraging. I only saw 9 gulls (all Ring-billed) the entire hike.
My day ended with a "cool down hike" at South Platte Park (Arapahoe). I walked the 0.5 miles south from the Carson Visitor's Center to the Duck blind to see if I could relocate the Harris's Sparrow. When I arrive at the blind there were no sparrows to be found. Not even the couple of Song Sparrows observed previously in the surrounding cattails. A male Belted Kingfisher rattled at me constantly during my search.
Great day for December! The warm weather won't stay forever.
No comments:
Post a Comment