Monday, December 10, 2018

Bluff Lake Nature Area & Cherry Creek Reservoir

December 10, 2018

Richard Stevens:

A high of 57 degrees was recorded in Denver today.  Winds at Cherry Creek Reservoir measured only 2-3 mph.  What a fantastic winter day!  The eastern coast saw 1-3 feet of snow from New York south to the Carolinas.

It was a nice day with temperatures reaching 50 degrees.  After concluding business in downtown Denver, I stopped at Bluff Lake Nature Area (Denver County).  The Harris's Sparrow was again with half a dozen White-crowned Sparrows.  They were running among the rabbit brush at the eastern side of the area behind the nature building.

Too nice to go home, I detoured over to Cherry Creek Reservoir (Arapahoe).  The pair of Rusty Blackbirds and the Brown Thrasher were walking the wet areas among the cattails just south of the main road.  This is the northwestern drainage into the pond northwest of the swim beach.  The northeastern drainage and pond itself were completely ice covered.

I noticed another birder leaving the pond and caught up to her.  We returned to the drainage where the Rusty Blackbirds allowed long looks and the Brown Thrasher flew briefly out of the cattails.

While watching them and dozens of Robins, a Virginia Rail ran across one of the most northern wet areas.

I parked at the shooting range road and watched the cattails to the east.  No Short-eared Owls appeared this evening.

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