Monday, October 19, 2009

Return to Rocky Mountain Arsenal & Cherry Creek Reservoir

October 18, 2009

Richard Stevens:

Bryan Ehlmann and I made it back to Rocky Mountain Arsenal (Adams County). Temperatures were 50 degrees warmer than last weekend; winds however were quite strong.

I again managed to get a Long-eared Owl to respond to my recordings!

We scoped the lakes on the Arsenal and unfortunately did not find any scoters. In fact few birds were found along our 9.0 mile hike around the Arsenal.

A few Franklin's Gulls continue at Havana Ponds. The Rod and Gun Club Pond had only a dozen Canada Geese. Lake Ladora had a couple of Western Grebes and Double-crested Cormorant, not much else.

In the afternoon I sat for about 2 hours at Cherry Creek Reservoir (Arapahoe) hoping to see the dark jaeger that was reported in the morning. I first checked every corner of the lake but then decided to wait and see if the bird would fly around (as I sat at the handicapped fisherperson dock). It never did. I heard later that one was seen at Aurora Reservoir (about 9 miles east). Perhaps there is just one flying back and forth?

No uncommon gulls were seen today. Perhaps they are also at Aurora Reservoir as Cherry Creek Reservoir had many boats zipping around.

The grebe count was about the same as last Friday. The Red-necked Grebe I first reported on the CoBus blog on Friday was among the many.

A Great Horned Owl called near the amphitheater at the campgrounds! I was glad that one or two are still around the park as it has been numerous trips since my last sighting of one.

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