Saturday, April 2, 2011

Birding In Douglas County

April 2, 2011

Richard Stevens:

Jerry Petrosky and I returned to the McLain Gravel Pit south of Franktown hoping to get better photos of the strange duck that I found yesterday. It was once again too far away for great photos. The pair of Barrow's Goldeneyes was again near the north end of the pit.

We missed Eastern Bluebirds along Castlewood Canyon Road south of the State Park. Both Western Bluebirds and Mountain Bluebird were found. No Turkey Vultures have turned up yet.

It took about 20 minutes before a male American Three-toed Woodpecker was relocated at the northeast corner of Highway 67 and Rampart Range Road. We did not have success in locating any Northern Pygmy-Owls at previous locations. It was not the best time of day to find them.

We hiked to Cheesman Reservoir by way of Cheesman Canyon Trail. Three American Three-toed Woodpeckers were found along the way. All three nuthatches and several Townsend's Solitaires were also found.

The last two hours of daylight were passed walking the Wheat Ridge Greenbelt Trail from Prospect Park to a mile northwest of I70. No Rusty Blackbirds this trip, we also missed the Barrow's Goldeneye(s) at Bass Lake.

A White-throated Sparrow is visiting a friend's home on the south side of Clear Creek! At dusk, we found an Eastern Screech-Owl!

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