Friday, August 30, 2013

Boulder County Birding

August 29, 2013

Richard Stevens:

Bryan Ehlmann and I hiked up Skunk Canyon Trail (Boulder County) about four hours before sunrise.  Winds were calm, temperatures in the low 60s!  It was quite a pleasant walk after the 95+ degree temperatures of yesterday.

The woods were filled with bird sounds and challenged our hearing skills.  We were sure of Chipping Sparrows, Pine Siskins, White-breasted Nuthatch, and a Yellow-rumped Warbler.

Highlights were a Flammulated Owl & Northern Pygmy-Owl!  A second Flammulated Owl was caught on our "owl listening stations"!

After sunrise, we headed up to Lyons and Rabbit Mountain Open Space hoping to find the possible Buff-breasted Flycatcher reported twice in the past few weeks.  Unfortunately, we could not find any "empidonax species".

We did not find any Say's Phoebes either.  Not that a Say's Phoebe could be mistaken for an "empidonax" flycatcher.

Later, we headed south and stopped at Panama Reservoir # 1.  The Caspian Terns did not appear to be around; the Semipalmated Plover (Floyd, 8/28) was still there.

The Red-necked Phalaropes (Floyd, 8/28) were still on Little Gaynor Lake.

As temperatures rose, we stopped at Teller Lakes Trailhead off Valmont.  Regrettably, no Dickcissels were found along the northern trail.  Nothing uncommon was observed when we walked the southern trails either.

Just after noon, temperatures reached the low 90s.  We decided to end our birding for the day.

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