A Warbler Day!

October 23, 2019

Richard Stevens:

Weather changed drastically throughout the day.  Boulder had a high of 54 degrees with winds 10-11 mph.  Denver's high was 51 degrees with winds 5-6 mph until the gusts of 33 mph and snow around 4:00 pm.

I enjoyed a superb warbler birding day.  After leaving Denver at 4:00 am to miss traffic and an early breakfast, I stopped at Meadowview Park (Boulder).  It only took about 10 minutes to find the Palm Warbler.

Then I drove over to the creek at 29th/30th Street (Boulder).  It took a bit longer to relocate the Black-throated Green Warbler, Townsend's Warblers and Nashville Warbler all previously reported.  The Wood Thrush was missed if it was around early in the morning.

My next stop was Belmar Place Apartment's Lake (Jefferson).  After walking around the southwestern trail, Renee Casius and I decided to try the southeastern corner.  There is not a complete loop around the Lake; one has to backtrack.

While we watched a couple of Yellow-rumped Warblers at the leaf-less trees in the southeast corner, the Palm Warbler joined them. Eventually the "flock" flew into the tall pine next to the most southeastern building.

My next bird was a strange coincidence.  Another birder gave directions to the nearest public library as 2nd and Perry Streets.  Perry and 2nd Streets in Denver do not meet and I circled the neighborhood searching for a library.  Note: the library was a good mile away at Alameda & Lowell.

While circling the neighborhood a flock of what turned out to be 14 Yellow-rumped Warblers caught my eye.  They were near a trailhead to Weir Gulch trail.  When I got out of my car for a better look a Palm Warbler was found among the flock!

I gave up trying to navigate Denver's traffic and had a late lunch as snow started to fall.

Later around 9:00 pm, Rebecca and I went out for a late dinner and to enjoy the snow covered landscape.  As we passed through Cherry Creek State Park (Arapahoe) we noticed a Great Horned Owl standing on the wooden fence at the west end of the West Shades Picnic area.  The snow covered owl stayed for as long as we wanted to watch!

Note: I ate too much today :-)