Saturday, September 12, 2009

Riverside Cemetery

September 10, 2009

Richard Stevens:

I joined the DFO Trip to Riverside Cemetery (parts of which can not be accessed without special permission). Most of the cemetery is in Adams County; a small southern part is in Denver County.

The best birds however were in areas that one can bird from 8 to 5 daily. The western side of the cemetery has a strip of riparian area and a pond (sometimes two in wetter years).

The most interesting birds were found at the west end of the cemetery (at the southern end of above mentioned riparian area and overlooking the dry southern pond, Denver County). A flock of warblers included a Virginia's Warbler, first year American Redstart, Wilson's Warbler, and Orange-crowned Warbler.

At the larger northern pond we counted 35+ Snowy Egrets, 2 Spotted Sandpipers, Killdeer and a Wilson's Snipe. Watching that many Snowy Egrets fly in about an hour after sunset was interesting but not as much as the 84+ we saw at Jumbo Reservoir last week.

At the extreme southwestern end of the cemetery (access only through a trip) a Warbling Vireo and 2 additional Orange-crowned Warblers were found.

Around the more open areas, we found 4+ Rock Wrens, many sparrows (Lark, Brewer's, Chipping, Vesper, and 1 Clay-colored Sparrow), Western Kingbirds, 2 Lark Buntings, an unidentified "Empidonax" flycatcher,

Just to prove it is impossible to go anywhere without one, an Eurasian Collared-Dove flew in from the south side. A Cooper's Hawk and Red-tailed Hawk flew to different parts of the cemetery to avoid the crowd created by us.

Finally, at the extreme northeast corner I found a Ruby-crowned Kinglet fluttering about the evergreens. We did not see the three Wild Turkeys that workers have been seeing for several weeks.

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