Sunday, December 11, 2016

DIA Owl Loop & Cherry Creek Reservoir

December 11, 2016

Richard Stevens:

The high temperature today was 41 degrees; winds were 7-8 mph with gusts to 14 mph.  When the sun came out in the late afternoon, it was quite pleasant.

Early in the morning, I drove to Aurora to mail some packages.  A Short-eared Owl was flying up and down Third Creek, just west of Gun Club Road (Denver County).

Around 3:00 pm, I passed through Cherry Creek State Park (Arapahoe) and stopped to look for the Dunlin and Rusty Blackbirds.  A Thayer's Gull was among a few Ring-billed Gulls on the ice off the southwest marina.  My guess was that most of the gulls were east approximately eight miles at Aurora Reservoir.

People walked along the shore from the eastern end of the southeast boat ramp to Pelican point most of the rest of the day.  I found neither the Dunlin nor Rusty Blackbirds.

When I drove to the road to the gun range to wait for any Short-eared Owls flying over the cattail marshes at Lake View Road, a Northern Shrike was perched overlooking the Cottonwood marsh wetlands.  No Short-eared Owls appeared tonight.

No comments: