Saturday, May 11, 2013

Fantastic Birding Day Around Denver

May 11, 2013

Richard Stevens:

Jerry Petrosky and I savored a fantastic day of birding around Denver.  Our day began by relocated the adult Glossy Ibis at the Cottonwood Creek Wetlands, Cherry Creek Reservoir (Arapahoe).  The (a) second bird was not among the 73+ White-faced Ibis.

Yesterday's Marbled Godwits were also not around.  We checked the nearby Prairie Loop mudflats for the godwits; without success.  Only a couple of Killdeer walked the mudflats that are shrinking rapidly due to recent rains and snow melt.

Jerry and I stopped at Denver City Park (Denver).  Neither the Greater Scaup nor Greater White-fronted Goose reported earlier in the morning was found.  Dozens of Snowy Egrets were at Ferril Lake.  A few additional walked around Duck Lake.  The Bonaparte's Gulls and Franklin's Gulls that had been around for several weeks, appeared to have left the area.

Rocky Mountain Arsenal (Adams) was uneventful.  We did run into a small flock of Yellow-rumped Warblers accompanied by a Blackpoll Warbler at the south end of Lake Ladora.  The Greater Scaup that had been on Lake Ladora was not around today.

We enjoyed our trip to Barr Lake (Adams).  To cover more territory, I dropped Jerry off at the old stone house and then drove to the boat ramp.  While I walked to the Visitor's Center, Jerry continued to the car and picked me up.

Jerry reported a Green-tailed Towhee, several House Wrens and a male Bullock's Oriole around the stone house.  He found a Black-and-white Warbler along the canal below the dam (at mile 6.6).

Meanwhile I watched the nesting Great Horned Owls at the Pioneer Trail.  Continued south and found several House Wrens, three Bullock's Orioles and a Spotted Towhee.

The highlight was west of the Visitor's Center Footbridge where a Gray-cheeked Thrush stayed in the open for a good 15 minutes.  Fortunately, I was able to keep an eye on the bird until Jerry came along.

Quite a few Burrowing Owls were out this evening along the DIA Owl Loop.  We counted over a dozen at four locations.  Unluckily, no Short-eared Owls flew around tonight.  Seven Northern Harriers hunted over the fields north of DIA.

No comments: