Georgetown Christmas Count

January 2, 2009

Gary Weston: Eight of us conducted the third annual Georgetown CBC. Actual center point is Silver Plume as then the count circle included Loveland Pass, Guanella Pass, and Echo Lake, Keystone Ski Area.

Preliminary Results: Total species: 34

Some birds we expected were missed: Prairie Falcon, American Kestrel, Clark's Nutcracker, Townsend's Solitaire, to name a few.

We had planned on staying up there for cross country skiing and owling some more, but weather is horrible. Snow is predicted 4-6 inches and up to 1.5 feet. Winds are pretty strong.

As pointed out on the CoBus website, while Guanella pass is closed, it was temporarily open to Lost Silver Dollar Lake trail. Three birders skied to the top of Guanella pass and saw 11 White-tailed Ptarmigan! Another group found 2 White-tailed Ptarmigan on Loveland Pass. A mixed flock of 60 Rosy Finches flew around Silver Plume. We didn't see any this morning.

Canada Goose
White-tailed Ptarmigan
Northern Goshawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Rock Pigeon
Northern Pygmy-Owl
Boreal Owl
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
American Three-toed Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Gray Jay
Steller's Jay
Black-billed Magpie
American Crow
Common Raven
American Dipper
American Robin
European Starling
American Tree Sparrow
Song Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Red-winged Blackbird
Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch
Black Rosy-Finch
Brown-capped Rosy-Finch
Pine Grosbeak
Cassin's Finch
House Finch
Red Crossbill
Pine Siskin
Evening Grosbeak
House Sparrow