A Trek Across Denver

January 24, 2020

Richard Stevens:

It reached 56 degrees and stayed quite warm until sunset.  Winds were 8-9 mph with gusts to 14 mph.

Temperatures reached a pleasant 56 degrees today.  Winds were 6-7 mph with gusts to 15 mph. Hello cobirders;

Rebecca and I headed west across Denver today.  The Lesser Black-backed Gull was still on the ice at Lake Ladora, Rocky Mountain Arsenal (Adams County).

The female Long-tailed Duck was still on East Gravel Lakes (Adams).  A male Barrow's Goldeneye swam in the South Platte River upstream of the green/white tower.

After a late lunch, we made it to Lake Arbor (Jefferson).  Most of the geese were taking off at 4:00 pm.  Unfortunately, the Brant was not around.

We decided to check Indian Hills Golf Course (Jefferson) a short distance southwest of Lake Arbor.  No geese were seen from the main parking area.  However, we observed many geese flying over the golf course (coming from the direction of Lake Arbor).

We drove south to 72nd Avenue, then west to the first turn north which was Carr Street.  Just north of the intersection is 72nd Place.  We parked west of Carr and followed the paved bike path east along the Golf Course.

Thousands of White-cheeked Geese walked along the southern side of the Golf Course.  The Brant was among them, perhaps 400 yards east of Carr.

I put photos of the Brant and a Sharp-shinned Hawk found at southern Dahlia Ponds today on the Colorado Birding Society's photo library.  It was getting dark at 4:20 pm and photos are not the best.