Goose Hunt

December 6, 2007

Drove over to Cherry Creek Reservoir (Arapahoe) at first light after spending most of the night searching for owls. A "taiga" Greater White-fronted Goose was with hundreds of White-cheeked Geese at the soccer practice field below the Cherry Creek Reservoir dam at Village Greens Park (southwest of the State Park).

I searched the reservoir proper but found few of the birds that were around on Monday (12/3). A suspect dark mantled gull, Ring-billed size or smaller kept my attention. It kept its head in its back; so I was unable to see its bill. Finally after 20 minutes it lifted its head and turned out to be a Ring-billed Gull (mantle was dark enough and white crest large enough for it be possibly be a Mew Gull).

Most of the gulls and Common Goldeneyes were off the east side of the Lake Loop. There could have been a Thayer's Gull, but I was not able to positively id it. I could not pick out a Barrow's Goldeneye among the dozens of Common Goldeneyes. I also could not find the Long-tailed Duck that was on the reservoir last Monday.

Afterwards I wandered over to Inverness and the Denver Tech Center. My White-cheeked Geese count for the day was over 25,000! Not one Brant among them, I only found the one Greater White-fronted Goose early in the morning.

Search for White-winged Crossbills and Owls

December 5, 2007

At first light I went searching for the Sharp-tailed Grouse and previously reported Bohemian Waxwings up Fish Creek Drainage (Routt). No sign of either. Perhaps the weather has not been bad enough to bring the Grouse up to their traditional wintering grounds?

I wandered back to Jackson County and visited an old friend. His feeders have been visited by 800+ Rosy Finches for about a week now. They show up with good regularity. He also had a White-throated Sparrow and Lincoln's Sparrow coming to his feeders. He had reported seeing 2 White-winged Crossbills which of course did not show up during my stay. A consolation prize was a Northern Saw-whet Owl that my friend sees about every 3rd day or so.

After watching 600+ Rosy Finches come to my friend's feeders (Jackson), no White-winged Crossbills, I headed east toward the Colorado State Forest. I looked around Walden on the way, but did not find any additional Rosy Finches. Road conditions discouraged me from driving over to Lake Johns or Delaney Buttes Wildlife Areas.

Finally…………a flock of 30+ Bohemian Waxwings (Jackson County!) flew around the KOA Campgrounds at the entrance to the Colorado State Forest! Again road conditions discouraged me from wandering too far off the main highway.

Three Rosy Finches visited the feeders behind the State Forest Visitor's Center. I couldn't find any of the 9+ American Three-toed Woodpeckers reported there a while back. One of the rangers hears a Boreal Owl after dark some nights. However, one is not going to call during the day.

Returned to my friend's ranch to search for Greater Sage-Grouse and see if the White-winged Crossbills had shown up.

Near dusk, we wandered to the back of his property and found 3 Greater Sage-Grouse. Some days, he and his wife see them from their kitchen windows. They come up and eat the seed dropped below the feeders.

After dark I stopped at 4 previous Boreal Owl locations around Cameron Pass; without success. However…………..it had started snowing around 2:00pm. Winds were 50+ mph and snow appeared coming down at a 45 degree angle by dusk. Not the best conditions to locate an owl.

Once I dropped down off of Cameron Pass (hwy 14 heading east, Larimer) winds had quieted down. Owls were also quiet at the campgrounds and picnic areas along Highway 14.

Search for Bohemian Waxwings

December 4, 2007

I decided to head into the mountains today to look for the previously reported Bohemian Waxwings. Snow is predicted for later in the week and next weekend. Driving around may become treacherous soon.

I circled Dillon Lake and managed to find 5 of the Barrow's Goldeneyes reported by Charles Nims first on 11/29. Another nine Barrow's Goldeneyes were on the Blue River Water Treatment Plant Pond (Summit County).

A search along Hwy 9 to Ute Pass did not find any Bohemian Waxwings. They do have a tendency to move around a bunch.

No Rosy Finches were found at feeders in Kremmling (Grand) or around the "cliffs". Each year Rosy Finches are reported on the cliffs. Must be a nemesis of mine, my record is zero for 14 attempts over the years.

There was no success in searching for the Northern Pygmy-Owl and American Three-toed Woodpecker on Rabbit Ears Pass either. No Boreal Owls answered my playback after dark.

Search for Owls in the Front Range Foothills

December 3, 2007

Gary Weston and I left Denver around 4:00am for Reynolds Park (Jefferson County). I am still trying to get a good photo of a Northern Pygmy-Owl. Unfortunately we could not find any owls this morning (or the whole day).

A consolation prize was a male Dusky Grouse walking across the Oxen Draw Trail, perhaps 15 yards south of the Songbird Trail. We did not take the time to hike up 0.7 miles to the intersection of the three trails (Eagle's View, Oxen Draw, and Raven's Roost). Twenty yards around this intersection seems to be a good location to find a resident American Three-toed Woodpecker.

Instead, we drove over to Pine Valley Ranch Park and hiked to the end of the Narrow Gauge Railroad Trail. No owls along here either.

We circled around to the south side of the park (Forest Road 550) hoping to find a Northern Goshawk. Struck out on that bird too. We tried hiking down the Tramway and 543 Trails. A couple of flocks of Pygmy Nuthatches and pairs of White-breasted Nuthatches & Red-breasted Nuthatches were just about all that we found.

From here, we decided to drive Rampart Range Road. Stops at locations of Northern Pygmy-Owl sightings of past years did not produce an owl.

The Sedalia Cemetery was quite birdy. Several Townsend's Solitaires, White-breasted Nuthatches, 1 Red-breasted Nuthatch, and many Pine Siskins kept our attention. A flock of Cedar Waxwings flew in; unfortunately no Bohemian Waxwings were among them.

I dropped Gary off and ended my birding day at Cherry Creek Reservoir (Arapahoe). I hope people took time to look at the spectacular sunset just to the south of Cherry Creek Reservoir. Colorado does have some fantastic wintertime sunsets.

Hundreds of gulls and ducks were just off the northern picnic area and I headed there first. I managed to pick out a Long-tailed Duck among the multitude. At least one Bonaparte's Gull was in the mix.

A quick walk to the south end of the 12 mile beaver pond did not add much to my day list. No Dunlins, warblers, etc. A flock of American Goldfinch fluttered about the trees west of the group picnic area.

Hundreds of gulls stood on the poles outlining the southwest marina. No dark ones or large white ones, mostly Ring-billed Gulls with a few California Gulls mixed in.

As expected, hundreds of geese flew in around sunset. A lone Greater White-fronted Goose was in the middle of several thousand Canada Geese in the cove west of the Mountain Loop. For about 30 minutes around 4:30, there was no wind and the water was like a mirror (reflecting the sunset and the birds).

At 5:15pm however, winds started up and had to be 25+ mph quickly. I had planned to search for a Great Horned Owl as it has been almost a year since I have observed one at the park.

Eventually the winds encouraged me to head for home. I did not find a Great Horned Owl at the campgrounds, or northern picnic areas. The planned hiked back to the 12 mile beaver pond was called off.

Looking for Geese around DIA

December 2, 2007

Spent most of the day working on chores around the house. We did manage to get out for a bite of dinner in the late afternoon. Of course, we had to look for a few birds, so we took a walk around LakeCrest.

Thousands of geese were on the lake. At least 5000+ Canada Geese. We could pick out at least half a dozen Cackling Geese also. Two white Snow Geese and one beautiful "blue" Snow Goose swam with them.

At nearby Emerald Strand Park (across the street from the eastern end of LakeCrest, another 6000+ Canada Geese were on the small pond and field to the north. We were amazed that geese kept flying in; there did not seem any space for more geese on the pond. One Ross's Goose stood out from the horde of Canada Geese.

Birding Around Denver

December 1, 2007

In spite of the worsening weather, Bryan Ehlmann and I enjoyed a cold day of birding.

At first light, we walked around the Denver West Office Complex (Jefferson County). It was too dark to see much, but we narrowed down the location of feeders where the Pine Warbler could possibly visit. Only one feeder had seeds; it was at the southwest corner of building # 17. Later, once the House Sparrows found the feeder, the seeds did not last long.

From 7:22am to 7:26am we watched the Pine Warbler flutter about the Pine Tree at the southwest corner of building # 15. A couple of Ruby-crowned Kinglets, a Red-breasted Nuthatch, and Townsend's Solitaire were also in the tree. Fifty+ House Sparrows were in the bushes underneath the tree. When the House Sparrows flushed, the Pine Warbler flew with them around to the feeders at building # 17. We were not able to relocate the warbler.

We walked over to nearby building # 15 because Pine Warblers have been seen behind it several times in the past. No Pine Warbler, but we found a flock of birds which included 22 Mountain Chickadees, 2 Black-capped Chickadees, 2 Red breasted Nuthatches, 2 White breasted Nuthatches, 2 Brown Creepers, and 7+ Ruby crowned Kinglets.

From here, we drove over to Wheat Ridge Greenbelt (Prospect Park) to see if any Western Screech-Owls were out. None were; it was pretty cold, windy, and cloudy. Not much of a reason for the owls to come out to sun themselves.

We received a text message about the Brant at Glasser Reservoir in Broomfield County and headed up that way. We only gave the search 15 minutes; without success and moved on to the South Platte River.

On the trip south, we drove by Sheridan Blvd and 104th Avenue. The partial albino Red-tailed Hawk was in a tree about 0.4 miles east of the intersection. It has been around for half a dozen years now!

From Colorado Blvd & 88th avenue (Adams County), we walked the west side of the Platte River down to Hwy 225, then crossed over and returned via the east side. West and East Gravel Lakes only had a little ice; this tends to spread the ducks out over a larger search area (best when the lakes are frozen and the ducks are forced onto the Platte River).

At the confluence of Clear Creek, we detoured along the Creek down to York Street. Several years in the past, Harris's Sparrows and other interesting birds have been reported in the bushes along Clear Creek. Unfortunately, nothing uncommon showed up today.

On the return trip (east side of the Platte) we found a male Barrow's Goldeneye on East Gravel Lake. There were plenty of ducks (Ring-necked Ducks, Northern Shovelers, Mallards, Gadwalls, dozens of Common Goldeneyes); nothing else uncommon.

We also found a Northern Shrike on the chain link fence along the west side of Tani Reservoir (that's the lake south of East Gravel Lake).

Nothing unusual was on the Dahlia Ponds and we left as the weather was deteriorating rapidly.

Search for Owls; Boulder, Larimer & Jackson Counties

November 30, 2007

Julian Rodriguez and I were still looking for Long-eared Owls, so before civil twilight we headed to my semi-reliable site in Boulder County. It did not disappoint and we found 2 Long-eared Owls perched in thickets on private property. Just before sunrise, they flew around a bit and went deep into the thickets.

We spent the next couple of hours searching for Northern Saw-whet Owls in Boulder County. Our hunt centered around the Ann U. White Trail and up Left Hand Canyon. We hoped that if no owls were found, we would at least run into a flock of waxwings (perhaps some Bohemian Waxwings). Sightings of neither happened.

Afterwards, we decided to search for owls at the campgrounds along Highway 14 on the way up to Cameron Pass (Jackson). Stops at 9 campgrounds and picnic areas did not find any owls.

With plenty of time before sunset, our next stop was the Colorado State Forest Visitor's Center. Four Brown-capped Rosy Finches came to the feeders in the hour we watched. Plenty of birds came by, including; Pine Siskins, White-crowned Sparrows, Evening Grosbeaks (2), Pine Grosbeaks (a few), Mountain Chickadees, and Black-capped Chickadees.

We searched the feeders in Gould and the KOA campgrounds for the Common Redpoll that was reported several weeks ago. As previous trips, I missed it again.

After dark, we stopped at 7 stations where Boreal Owls have been found in the past. We heard one at a stop about halfway between the upper Joe Wright Parking area and the summit to Cameron Pass. Unfortunately, we were not able to see the bird (which happens more times than not).