Wednesday, October 10, 2012

A Drive Around Arapahoe County

October 10, 2012

Richard Stevens:

Rebecca Kosten and I went for a drive around Arapahoe County today.  Skies were overcast; winds 8-12 mph, temperatures barely reached 50 degrees.

Our first stop was the Interstate 70 Rest Stop near Bennett.  Neither the Philadelphia Vireo nor Nashville Warbler was relocated.  As we wandered around the rest stop, a flock of 31+ Yellow-rumped Warbler flew to the taller cottonwoods southeast of the restrooms.  A beautiful western Palm Warbler was among them.

Other birds around the rest stop included 9 Cedar Waxwings, 6+ Pine Siskins, 2 White-breasted Nuthatches, 1 Red-breasted Nuthatch, and many White-crowned Sparrows.

Next, we drove into Bennett and drove around counting Eurasian Collared-Doves.  No longer a "rare bird", Eurasian Collared-Doves are all over the state.  We even have a pair nesting in our Denver yard.  They do make much noise.

We saw what we thought was a Red-naped Sapsucker and stopped to figure out its sex.  To our surprise, it turned out to be a juvenile Yellow-bellied Sapsucker.  Originally, it was one block east of the city park and four blocks east when we left.

The Long-eared Owl found yesterday was in the same evergreens on the east side of town.

Then we headed south to visit a private ranch of a friend.  One of his Barn Owls was hidden in a dark corner of the barn (nice trip bird)!  He mentioned that his neighbor had two owls that looks a "little different".  Could they be young Barn Owls?

The fact that they stayed hidden in evergreens and New Mexico Locust trees peaked our interest.  Eventually we saw two Long-eared Owls!

While driving the roads south of I70 and east of Aurora Reservoir (Arapahoe County) we ran into a flock of several hundred Horned Larks.  Several birds with whitish tails stood out.  We counted six McCown's Longspurs and two Chestnut-collared Longspurs.  One longspur type bird had almost no white in its tail.  We may have had a Lapland Longspur for the trifecta.

We zig zagged around the DIA Owl Loop (Adams) on the way home.  No Burrowing Owls were found (now for the third trip).  They could be gone.

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