Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Washington Park and Return to Red Rocks Park

December 1, 2010

Richard Stevens:

I was out doing chores when the call came that a White-winged Scoter was photographed yesterday at Smith Lake in Washington Park (Denver County). I hurried over, exited my car and then realized that I did not bring my binoculars. Fortunately, I eventually remembered that I had an old pair of 10 X 50s buried in the trunk. After some heavy duty cleaning, the binoculars were made usable.

However, there was no White-winged Scoter at Smith Lake or the northern lake in the park (currently spacing the name of that lake). I stayed long enough to make sure the scoter was not diving and avoiding detection.

Some of the waterfowl on Smith Lake included; Common Goldeneyes, Ring-necked Ducks, Bufflehead, Cackling Geese and Canada Geese.

Since I was halfway to Red Rocks Park (Jefferson County), my car headed that way :-) Arrived at 3:40 pm as two birders were leaving without seeing the White-throated Sparrow or Curve-billed Thrasher. I mentioned that the birds tended to come out after 4:00 pm.

As if on cue, the Golden-crowned Sparrow and White-throated Sparrow came out at 4:10 pm. The Harris's Sparrow showed up at 4:14 pm. The Curve-billed Thrasher at 4:21 pm. My longest wait was for a White-crowned Sparrow which should have been the most common. Finally, at 4:32 pm, a juvenile White-crowned Sparrow visited below the platform feeder at the northwest corner of the Red Rocks Park Trading Post.

This is only the 3rd time since 1992 that I have observed the four "Zonotrichia" sparrows in Colorado while standing at one spot!

Many other birds visited during my wait. Western Scrub-Jays, Spotted Towhees, many Dark-eyed Juncos, Black-capped Chickadees, Mountain Chickadee, House Finches, Northern Flickers and even a Canyon Wren called briefly from the western rock cliff.

One thought I had during a late visit earlier in the month. After 4:00 pm is first good because the Trading Post shuts down and most visitors leave. However, the many House Sparrows also seem to disappear around 4:00 pm. Why I do not know; however, this has been consistent in four or five of my late afternoon visits. They may require more daylight to hunt for food. The other birds come until it is almost too dark to see them. Dozens more Dark-eyed Juncos appear after the commotion of the "jumpy" House Sparrows ends for the day. Other bird numbers increase also.

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