Birding Around Denver County

January 12, 2019

Richard Stevens:

After yesterday's snowstorm, today was a fantastic day.  High temperatures reached 34 degrees.  Winds were 5-6 mph.  The 4-6 inches of snow melted rapidly.

On the way home from downtown Denver, I stopped at Bluff Lake Nature Area (Denver County).  The Harris's Sparrow that has been hanging around since late October is usually with a small flock of White-crowned Sparrows.

It took about ten minutes to find the flock of eight White-crowned Sparrows under a Rabbit Brush.  The Harris's Sparrow was among them!

I also passed the First Creek Trail (Denver) and stopped.  A flock of 100-150 Red-winged Blackbirds without Rusty Blackbirds popped out of the cattails northwest of the horse corral.

I continued to walk east along First Creek.  Judith Henderson and Melissa James were also walking the Creek.  Judith was the first to spot Rusty Blackbirds.  Eventually we relocated four Rusty Blackbirds walking up and down First Creek, just northeast of the horse corral.

No Short-eared Owls appeared when I parked at sunset along West Cargo Road, south of Third Creek.