Friday, November 20, 2015

Eastern Arapahoe County Today

November 19, 2015

Richard Stevens:

Temperatures hovered around the middle 40s most of the day.  Winds were 5-9 mph also most of the day.

I started out toward the Chatfield Botanic Gardens with a stop at Aurora Reservoir (Arapahoe County).  Two Common Loons swam around at the 3.0-mile cove. 

I walked down from the south side and scoped the shoreline at 2.5-mile marker.  The Lesser Black-backed Gull was easy to pick out of the three+ thousand gulls there.  A Thayer's Gull was a little more difficult.  If the Mew Gull reported a few days earlier was still there, I could not find it.

Receiving a text message that more than half a dozen birders could not find the "Myiarchus flycatcher" at the Botanic Gardens (Jefferson), I decided to drive the eastern Arapahoe County Roads and skip a drive through traffic to Chatfield Reservoir.

The day was not exciting; however, a drive in the country with little traffic is much preferred to the horrific traffic in Denver now.

A Northern Shrike was found east of CR 97.  I stopped at Box Elder Creek & CR 30, could not entice the resident Eastern Screech-Owl to call.

A couple of Lapland Longspurs were found around the small Pond along Arapahoe County Road 30 (west of Manila Road).

Only Blue Jays greeted me at Comanche Creek & CR 30.  A couple of Gadwalls and Killdeer were at Little Comanche Creek & CR 30.

A pair of Great Horned Owls was found at Bijou Creek & CR 30.  A flock of 200+ Horned Larks at Rattlesnake Creek and CR 38 was accompanied by two or three Lapland Longspurs.  I would have sworn a McCown's Longspur was with them; however, without complete certainty, I did not record it.

I took CR 38 east to Deer Trail, then backtracked along I70 to Strasburg.  Days are too short; daylight is a valuable commodity this time of year.  My birding day ended driving roads north of Strasburg in search of Owls (Short-eared mainly); without success.

No comments: