A Few Area Reservoirs Visited

November 2, 2008

Richard Stevens:

Mostly we had to do chores today. What a fantastic sunny and warm day for November 2nd! The last 8 years there has been a snowstorm on November 1st or 2nd. I remember because it has been "tradition" to drive in a storm down to Chatfield Reservoir to look for murrelets and murres driven down to the reservoir because of a storm. Not this year, perhaps they will show up later in November?

We passed by Fort Logan National Cemetery and made a quick stop. Four Greater Scaup were swimming around Memorial Lake (the eastern of the two lakes, Veteran Lake is the western lake).

Thousands of Canada Geese and a few Cackling Geese are walking around the cemetery. No Greater White-fronted Geese were picked out.

Since Marston Reservoir (Denver County) is close we drove the 8 blocks to look at it again. However, since we were on the east side and looking into the sun, few birds could be identified. At least 2 Common Loons were out there.

I ended this beautiful day by hiking the northwest side of Barr Lake again (from mile marker 5.3 to 4.3. The Common Loon is still in the cove/bay at mm 5.0. There were few gulls around; their resting sand spit has been taken over by hundreds of White-cheeked Geese (mostly Canada Geese and a few Cackling Geese).

No Short-eared Owls showed up along the DIA Owl Loop after sunset.

Birding Metro Lakes

November 1, 2008

Richard Stevens:

I enjoyed the fantastic fall day by visiting several local lakes.

After taking Bryan & Sue Ehlmann to the airport, I detoured over to the northwest side of Barr Lake (Adams County). A walk from mile marker 5.3 to 4.3 only found one Common Loon and the usual suspects.

My next stop was Cherry Creek Reservoir (Arapahoe) where several of the Common Loons and Bonaparte's Gulls were still around.

At Fort Logan National Cemetery (Denver) I photographed 6 Greater Scaup. A short distance away I observed on Marston Reservoir: 1 Black Scoter, 1 Pacific Loon, and 7+ Common Loons. I had 6 Common Loon in my scope at one time!

My final stop was Aurora Reservoir. I only relocated the Pacific Loon and 2 Common Loons. The Black Scoter could have been in one of the coves/bays that I could not see from the south end. I was too tired to circle the 9 mile loop to look.

Beautiful Saturday for November! Continued good birding!
.

Aurora Reservoir

October 31, 2008

Richard Stevens:

I received a call from Bill Cryder of a possible Black Scoter at Aurora Reservoir. So much for plans to stay home and do chores (they were kindly still there when I returned home). I parked at Bill's home on the south side of Aurora Reservoir. A walk of about 3/4 mile gets one to a hill where about 90 percent of the reservoir can be scoped (take the left fork at the bottom of the hill and continue straight 1/2 mile). From the north end/dam I have always figured that only 70 percent of the reservoir can be scoped.

The Black Scoter was swimming around in the cove/bay east of mile marker 2.5. A pair of Common Loons were swimming in the cove at mile marker 4.0. A Pacific Loon was alone at the mm 4.5 cove. I do not believe that any of these birds could have been seen from the north end. The loons probably could have been observed from the swim beach. But the southern cove (Black Scoter) could not.

I am not that familiar with the new southern walk-in entrance to Aurora Reservoir. The sign states that it is presently open from 7:00am to 7:00pm. With tonight's time change, this may also change. It also states that the gate will be closed in inclement weather.

I do know that on two of the dozens of times I have parked near the dam and circled the 9 miles around the reservoir, that twice Rangers have decided to close the park early due to bad weather. They gave me a ride back to my car to speed up the process (I was the only visitor in the park). Whether one could get locked out of the southern entrance while inside the park, that could be in question. I know that I am no longer capable of climbing over the fence.

So Beware

Back on the Plains

October 26, 2008

Richard Stevens:

We birded the north side of Prewitt Reservoir for about an hour. Shorebirds were too far away for identification. Most gulls were also. However an odd gull flew about 10 yards away from us. It turned out to be a first year Laughing Gull! Perhaps it was the same one that was at Barr Lake last weekend. If it was accompanied by the adult Laughing Gull as was the case at Barr Lake last weekend, we were not able to find an adult. Several Bonaparte's Gulls also were flying around.

Jumbo Reservoir was pretty slow. A Common Loon swam among many Mallards, Northern Shovelers, and Gadwalls. The only uncommon gull was a Bonaparte's Gull.

Two lingering Greater White-fronted Geese swam close to the southeastern shore. Roger Danka had reported half a dozen last week.

Excuse the breivity, it is 3:00am and I am tired!

Adventure in the Mountains

October 25, 2008

Richard Stevens:

PT Warring and I started up the Grand Mesa in early afternoon. The plan was to drive to the Powderhorn Ski Area while it was still light enough to see birds and then backtrack to the Visitor's Center after dark and search for owls.

We stopped at the Visitor's Center and quickly found a flock of Red Crossbills. While walking up the road to the east, Tom heard a White-winged Crossbill. Unfortunately we never did put our binoculars on the bird.

On the side road about a half mile east of the Visitor's Center, a Northern Goshawk flew slowly across the road and gave us great looks. It appeared to be a small adult male.

At the Lodge we found a flock of Pine Siskins and quite a few Mountain Chickadees. Not much else showed up and we moved on north along the main road.

At Powderhorn Ski Area we hiked the road behind the maintenance sheds. An American Three-toed Woodpecker worked the trees below the parking area.

After sunset, a Northern Pygmy-Owl answered my recordings. We never saw the owl; it was to the north of the maintenance shed and well back into the woods.

We stopped at about 7 pullovers as we drove back south along the main road. At the Campgrounds we did not hear any Boreal Owls but a Northern Saw-whet Owl called back. This was the third time that a Northern Saw-whet Owl has called for me in this area. It flew back and forth a couple of times across the main road (passed through our spotlight once).

The first pullover south of the campgrounds offered our first Boreal Owl on the evening. Again we never observed the bird but did hear it call for about 10 minutes.

Our second Boreal Owl of the night was at the third pullover (I believe there are GPS waypoints of the pullovers on the CoBus website). Again the owl did not come out of the woods and we left before disturbing it too much.

That was the end of our owl encounters for the night. It was well after 2:00am and we headed back to Denver.

PT purchased a home around Standley Lake and we decided to walk the south side of Standley before I took him to the airport (had to return to PA to get his wife and belongings).

Standley Lake was quite interesting in spite of winds measured steady at 14 mph and gusts to 30 mph. The large waves made observing and identifying birds quite a task.

A Common Loon still in alternate plumage was in the southeast corner of the lake. I wanted to try for a photo so PT and I walked around the inlet canal in order to get closer to the bird.

This decision turned out to be fortuitous. A very small brown bird with a short tail flew out of the short willows on the west side of the inlet canal. It briefly stopped to look around and gave us great looks at a Winter Wren! Eventually it flew across the canal and to the tall willows on the east side.

We were not able to relocate the wren by the time we hiked to the east side of the canal.

As we hiked back to the west side of Standley Lake a Pacific Loon was spotted. This bird flew back and forth across the lake more than 4 times during our stay.

Farther out was a third loon that was quite interesting. I rode the frantic waves and disappeared behind them more often than revealing itself to us. Both of us thought Red-throated Loon as a first thought. Unfortunately our looks were not long enough to confidently label the loon as such. We hoped another birder would come along later in the day and get better looks?

I also noticed a large white bird in the middle of the lake and near the eastern dam. It definitely was a swan, but which species?

When we arrived at the north side of Standley Lake the swan had swam from the dam to just north of the land spit at the western end. The bird was still quite far away and riding the high waves. Focusing with our scopes in the high winds and bobbing up and down swan did not help identifying the bird. We were 90 percent sure it was a Tundra Swan; but someone could prove us wrong.

Eventually I took PT to the airport and I went home for some sleep.

Jaeger-less day; Great day at Barr Lake

October 19, 2008

Richard Stevens:

After missing the Long-tailed Jaeger at Aurora Reservoir this morning, Jerry Petrosky, Bill Cryder, and I scoped both Quincy and Cherry Creek Reservoirs (Arapahoe County); without success. Eventually we split up and I went over to Barr Lake (Adams).

No Burrowing Owls along the DIA Owl Loop (has not been any reported since 10/7). At least one male Great-tailed Grackle was seen near the houses along Picadilly Road and south of Bromley Road (152nd avenue).

At Barr Lake, I was dropped off at Picadilly Road and Lark Bunting Lane and hiked to the reservoir and then along the northwestern side from the dam (mile marker 6.0) to mile marker 3.5 and back.

In the past I have seen many sparrows along the weedy lined Lark Bunting Lane. Today I found none. In fact there were few land birds along my whole trek. Few (none except for a couple of Mourning Doves) were around the old stone building at the northern end of the dam.

I scoped the lake from the northern end of the dam and through the trees at many stops along the hike. The Common Loon was observed from the dam. I never did see the Pomarine Jaeger. Many Western Grebes and common gulls swam on the lake.

At the Cottonwoods at mile marker 5.1, I saw what I thought would be a Brown Creeper (yeah a land bird). Upon closer and longer looks it turned out to be a Black-and-white Warbler crawling along the branches.

The ponds across the railroad tracks had about 30 Common Grackles, many Red-winged Blackbirds, and one Yellow-headed Blackbird in its surrounding cattails.

At mile marker 4.5 a juvenile Laughing Gull was observed flying from the west along the shore line. It landed near a small group of Canada Geese and walked up and down the shore. I was able to watch the Laughing Gull for a good 20 minutes before continuing my hike.

I stopped at mile marker 4.4 to inspect another interesting Gull when I noticed through the trees and weeds a Black-bellied Plover walking the shore.

The best stop was at mm 4.3 (across from the yellow house with green roof). The "sand"/muddy spit here had many gulls on it. I could also see the "sand" bar off to the distant south. A Common Tern stood with many gulls on the closer spit. Many White Pelicans and Double-crested Cormorants stood in the distance.

The gulls were stirred up several times and I hoped it was because the Pomarine Jaeger was flying by; it was not the case. Finally the adult Laughing Gull flew in from the west and landed on the near "spit". I watched it for about 20 minutes before returning to my ride (who was sitting in the Wendy's) across the highway from Barr Lake.

I stopped and scoped the lake from many spots; again not seeing any Jaeger. The long walk back was not wasted as I stopped and got a great deal on a shed at Lowe's Hardware Store!

Owling This Week

To be filled in later!