Trip to Mt. Evans

July 29, 2018

Richard Stevens:

Temperatures only reached a mild 79 degrees in Littleton.  Winds were 14-15 mph with gusts to 21 mph.  Obviously it was much colder and windier at Mt. Evans.

Dennis & Jean Phillips and I went to Mt Evans an hour before sunrise.  I never want to return to Denver by way of Interstate 70 after noon on a Sunday.   Traffic returning from the mountains can be ridiculous. 

Nine Barrow's Goldeneyes swam around the far side of Echo Lake at the bottom of the Mt. Evans road.

We scoped the hills from the pullover east of the Summit Lake parking area and found a White-tailed Ptarmigan walking around east of the road.

Then a walk to the northwest corner of Summit Lake found two Brown-capped Rosy Finches circling overhead.  They landed on the grassy, rocky hillside several times.

A walk down the south side of the Echo Lake Campgrounds heard and then found a male American Three-toed Woodpecker drumming on a Pine just east of the Captain Trail.

After returning to Denver, I went down to Chatfield Reservoir (Jefferson/Douglas).  An Eastern Phoebe was bobbing its tail high in a cottonwood behind (east) of the restroom at Plum Creek Delta.

I heard an Indigo Bunting long before getting a brief glimpse as it switched cottonwoods.

Walking around the picnic grounds and then north to the water's edge did not turn up the Summer Tanager reported yesterday.

The afternoon was spent watching the hummingbirds visit my feeders back at home.  In previous years, we would get one or two the whole summer/fall.

This year has been fantastic.  We have seen up to seven hummingbirds at one time.  Two male & two female Calliope Hummingbirds have been regulars for five days now.

Conservatively, the count is one male & seven+ Broad-tailed Hummingbirds, one male and two female Rufous Hummingbirds, two female Black-chinned Hummingbirds, and the two male and two female Calliope Hummingbirds.