Sunday, October 18, 2009

Accidental Five Owl Day!

October 17, 2009

Richard Stevens:

Bryan Ehlmann and I started out to bird Rocky Mountain Arsenal (Adams County). Target birds were last week's Black Scoter and possibly a Long-eared Owl. When we arrived we were told that there was a "Rocky Mountain Arsenal Wildlife Roundup". Open time was pushed back to 8:00 am and a make swift parking area was at the entrance. They expected so many people that one would have to take a shuttle bus into the arsenal. That sounded like a nightmare, so we left.

Alternatively, we drove over to two private ranches (it was still dark at 6:00 am). At one we relocated a resident Barn Owl. At the second we relocated two Long-eared Owls. Both we have observed several times in 2009.

On the way over to Barr Lake we stopped and scoped the southern side of the Denver Disposal Site. A Short-eared Owl was hovering along side the closest mound/hill east of Tower Road. I have seen this species here three times in 2009 (possibly have passed the area at dawn or dusk 104+ times, if you want to figure odds). So before sunrise, we had three rather good owl species for our day list!

We went to Barr Lake not expecting to find any land birds this late in the season. We parked at the boat ramp (mile marker 7.5), Bryan walked east while I made a quick walk west to the banding station.

When we first arrived, dozens of Franklin's Gulls were flying in from the east. A least one Bonaparte's Gull was among them.

Surprisingly, I found quite a few birds. A flock of 7 Eastern Bluebirds were just west of the Pioneer Trail (mm 8.1). Between the Pioneer Trail and mm 8.2 there was a small flock of warblers which included 4 Yellow-rumped, an Orange-crowned Warbler and a Townsend's Warbler.

Continuing west a Hermit Thrush was skulking low in the bushes below the main road at mm 8.4.

I turned back east at mm 8.6 and birded back to the Pioneer Trail (from below the main road/trail). A Swainson's Thrush was low in the bushes northeast of the north end of the Pioneer Trail. Continuing east, another 4 Swainson's Thrushes were at mm 7.8. I do not believe they could be seen from up on the main trail; I had to walk through the woods from below the trail.

A pair of Rock Wrens seemed rather "frisky" on the rocks near the gate at mm 7.5.

Hundreds of Double-crested Cormorants flew over head (unless a flock of 80-100 kept circling back).

Bryan found a late Common Yellowthroat below the dam and a pair of Belted Kingfishers (mm 7.0). He also came upon a dozen American Goldfinches which were accompanied by 2 Lesser Goldfinches.

Next we drove to the town of Barr and hiked some of the north side of the lake. While there were hundreds of gulls along the shore at mm 4.5, we did not find any uncommon ones. Many Western Grebes were out on the lake. No loons or scoters were found.

A Great Horned Owl was in the tall cottonwoods west of mm 5.0 (our fourth owl of the day).

No Burrowing Owls were found along the DIA Owl Loop so we ended our birding day with a quick hike along the east side of the Rocky Mountain Arsenal (Buckley Road, 88th avenue south for 2.0 miles). One of the Burrowing Owls reported several times this week was still there. That concluded our 5 owl day!!!

Quite an accident, but well enjoyed!

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