Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Arapahoe County Burrowing Owls

April 14, 2009

Richard Stevens:

I looked at my email and telephone calls too late to drive up to Loveland to search this morning for the probable Black Vulture. Instead I drove over to Aurora and 6th avenue and found and photographed the Arapahoe County Burrowing Owls reported yesterday by Jamie Mullin.

In the afternoon, Rebecca Kosten and I decided to walk around the Rocky Mountain Arsenal (Adams County). We hoped to find a scoter on Lake Lenore or a late American Tree Sparrow fluttering about the surrounding bushes.

There were no scoters on Lake Lenore, but we did find a Greater Scaup among a dozen Ruddy Ducks in breeding plumage, dozens of Lesser Scaup, and several dozen Common Goldeneye.

Anemometer readings were 16 mph with gusts to 24 mph. This kept the number of sparrows seen down to 2 Song Sparrows and 5 White-crowned Sparrows.

We returned to the thickets where last month I found a Long-eared Owl; it was not around today. An adult Bald Eagle and 3 Red-tailed Hawks were our total rapture count. A pair of Barn Swallows added some interest to our 2.6 mile hike.

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