Return to Rocky Mountain Arsenal & Cherry Creek Reservoir

October 18, 2009

Richard Stevens:

Bryan Ehlmann and I made it back to Rocky Mountain Arsenal (Adams County). Temperatures were 50 degrees warmer than last weekend; winds however were quite strong.

I again managed to get a Long-eared Owl to respond to my recordings!

We scoped the lakes on the Arsenal and unfortunately did not find any scoters. In fact few birds were found along our 9.0 mile hike around the Arsenal.

A few Franklin's Gulls continue at Havana Ponds. The Rod and Gun Club Pond had only a dozen Canada Geese. Lake Ladora had a couple of Western Grebes and Double-crested Cormorant, not much else.

In the afternoon I sat for about 2 hours at Cherry Creek Reservoir (Arapahoe) hoping to see the dark jaeger that was reported in the morning. I first checked every corner of the lake but then decided to wait and see if the bird would fly around (as I sat at the handicapped fisherperson dock). It never did. I heard later that one was seen at Aurora Reservoir (about 9 miles east). Perhaps there is just one flying back and forth?

No uncommon gulls were seen today. Perhaps they are also at Aurora Reservoir as Cherry Creek Reservoir had many boats zipping around.

The grebe count was about the same as last Friday. The Red-necked Grebe I first reported on the CoBus blog on Friday was among the many.

A Great Horned Owl called near the amphitheater at the campgrounds! I was glad that one or two are still around the park as it has been numerous trips since my last sighting of one.

Accidental Five Owl Day!

October 17, 2009

Richard Stevens:

Bryan Ehlmann and I started out to bird Rocky Mountain Arsenal (Adams County). Target birds were last week's Black Scoter and possibly a Long-eared Owl. When we arrived we were told that there was a "Rocky Mountain Arsenal Wildlife Roundup". Open time was pushed back to 8:00 am and a make swift parking area was at the entrance. They expected so many people that one would have to take a shuttle bus into the arsenal. That sounded like a nightmare, so we left.

Alternatively, we drove over to two private ranches (it was still dark at 6:00 am). At one we relocated a resident Barn Owl. At the second we relocated two Long-eared Owls. Both we have observed several times in 2009.

On the way over to Barr Lake we stopped and scoped the southern side of the Denver Disposal Site. A Short-eared Owl was hovering along side the closest mound/hill east of Tower Road. I have seen this species here three times in 2009 (possibly have passed the area at dawn or dusk 104+ times, if you want to figure odds). So before sunrise, we had three rather good owl species for our day list!

We went to Barr Lake not expecting to find any land birds this late in the season. We parked at the boat ramp (mile marker 7.5), Bryan walked east while I made a quick walk west to the banding station.

When we first arrived, dozens of Franklin's Gulls were flying in from the east. A least one Bonaparte's Gull was among them.

Surprisingly, I found quite a few birds. A flock of 7 Eastern Bluebirds were just west of the Pioneer Trail (mm 8.1). Between the Pioneer Trail and mm 8.2 there was a small flock of warblers which included 4 Yellow-rumped, an Orange-crowned Warbler and a Townsend's Warbler.

Continuing west a Hermit Thrush was skulking low in the bushes below the main road at mm 8.4.

I turned back east at mm 8.6 and birded back to the Pioneer Trail (from below the main road/trail). A Swainson's Thrush was low in the bushes northeast of the north end of the Pioneer Trail. Continuing east, another 4 Swainson's Thrushes were at mm 7.8. I do not believe they could be seen from up on the main trail; I had to walk through the woods from below the trail.

A pair of Rock Wrens seemed rather "frisky" on the rocks near the gate at mm 7.5.

Hundreds of Double-crested Cormorants flew over head (unless a flock of 80-100 kept circling back).

Bryan found a late Common Yellowthroat below the dam and a pair of Belted Kingfishers (mm 7.0). He also came upon a dozen American Goldfinches which were accompanied by 2 Lesser Goldfinches.

Next we drove to the town of Barr and hiked some of the north side of the lake. While there were hundreds of gulls along the shore at mm 4.5, we did not find any uncommon ones. Many Western Grebes were out on the lake. No loons or scoters were found.

A Great Horned Owl was in the tall cottonwoods west of mm 5.0 (our fourth owl of the day).

No Burrowing Owls were found along the DIA Owl Loop so we ended our birding day with a quick hike along the east side of the Rocky Mountain Arsenal (Buckley Road, 88th avenue south for 2.0 miles). One of the Burrowing Owls reported several times this week was still there. That concluded our 5 owl day!!!

Quite an accident, but well enjoyed!

Prewitt and Cherry Creek Reservoirs

October 16, 2009

Richard Stevens:

We stopped at Prewitt Reservoir (Logan/Washington) . Highlights included a Sabine's Gull, 3 Black-bellied Plovers and 2 American Golden-Plovers.

Back in Denver, I stopped at Cherry Creek Reservoir (Arapahoe) while out getting supplies. What exquisite afternoon weather! After winds this week on the plains of 20+ mph with gusts to 32 mph, the 6 mph wind with gusts to 8 mph was a pleasurable change.

I hoped to find the recently reported Arctic Tern or Pacific Loon but that did not happen. While I was scoping the gulls at the southeast sand spit the adult Lesser Black-backed Gull (Beltz, 10/11) flew in to the north side. It swam around for 15 minutes and then disappeared back west. Also during my hour stay, the Sabine's Gull (Washburn, 10/9) flew into my view. It never landed but flew back west also.

Next I walked to the north end of the road below the southwest end of the dam. I sat there for another hour. Several hundred Western Grebes swam 100 yards off shore. Also observed were Eared Grebes, a couple of Horned Grebes, 2 Pied-billed Grebes and 1 Clark's Grebe. There were 300+ gulls on the swim beach which I did not have time to drive over to and ID. I also saw a grebe that looked suspiciously like a Red-necked Grebe. It was too far away for a definitive ID.

Colorado Eastern Plains

Richard Stevens: Will Try and Summarize Trip sometime this weekend.

Rocky Mountain Arsenal, Adams County

At first light I entered Rocky Mountain Arsenal and went to Richard Stevens' waypoint for Long-eared Owls. In less than 5 minutes a Long-eared Owl responded to my Long-eared Owl tape. I did not get any response when I played a Barn Owl tape.

There were no land birds at the Rod and Gun Club bird blind. Canada Geese, Gadwall, American Coots and Pied-billed Grebes were in the pond.

A Palm Warbler was found in the cottonwoods along the stream between Lower Derby Lake and Lake Ladora. I couldn't see into Lower Derby Lake and didn't take the time to hike to Havana pond.

Later I walked Buckley Road from 56th avenue to 88th avenue and back. I didn't find Friday's Fox Sparrow. A Sage Thrasher was around the Wildlife Watch parking lot. A Burrowing Owl (Stevens, 10/2) was in Denver County across from the 8th telephone pole south of 88th avenue.

Cherry Creek Reservoir & Rocky Mountain Arsenal

October 2, 2009

Richard Stevens:

I started out this morning only to see if any Short-eared Owls would show up at Cherry Creek Reservoir (Arapahoe). At 6:15 am I parked along the main road, just west of the woods where Cherry Creek crosses under the road. Civil Twilight was 6:24 am; sunrise 6:57 am. No owls did fly by, so I walked the cattails along the road and found a Marsh Wren!

I reversed directions and walked along the main road into the woods on either side of Cherry Creek. While doing my rather poor imitation of a Black-and-white Warbler a flock of small birds appeared to get excited.

It must have been a bad imitation (or perhaps good?) as a Cooper's Hawk flew in and landed almost above my head. He called the whole time I was there; perhaps I was on his hunting grounds?

The flock included 6 Black-capped Chickadees, 8 Yellow-rumped Warblers, and a very yellow Tennessee Warbler. I watched the warbler for a minute or so, observed the white undertail coverts well. The warbler was last seen 15 feet south of the main road and along the Wetlands Trail just west of Cherry Creek.

It was such a beautiful day (at 9:00am winds 10-12 mph, gusts to 16; temperature 44 degrees). I figured it would be a wash on seeing many birds but decided to get some exercise by walking the whole 6 miles around the lake.

As expected few birds were encountered, very few if you do not count the murder of 82 American Crows at the Mountain View Loop and dozens of Black-billed Magpies at the Cottonwood Creek Loop.

I did run into another Cooper's Hawk, 2 Sharp-shinned Hawks and a Red-tailed Hawk. Quite a few Pelicans, a couple of Double-crested Cormorants, hundreds of American Coots, Horned Grebes and Eared Grebes were out on the water.

The highlight was two American Avocets in basic plumage at the southeast sand spit.

(It was not until later in the day when talking to Rebecca that it occurred that I had spent 6.5 hours at Cherry Creek Reservoir and not seen one sparrow. At intervals I had played a Swamp Sparrow recording at the cattails on the south side from the Lake Loop to the southeast corner; not even a Song Sparrow responded. Usually I find that playing any recording gets a response from other birds; it is as if they can not allow one bird to fill the airwaves by themselves; not today.

It might have appeared that I was trying to avoid chores back home. I had every intention of returning to those chores, (but) Rebecca wanted to go back out, eat lunch, and go grocery shopping. So, what could I do? :-)

After lunch I got the idea that instead of shopping with her, she could drop me off at 88th avenue and Buckley Road (northeast corner of the Rocky Mountain Arsenal) and pick me up in two hours at 56th avenue and Buckley (4 mile hike along the east side of the Arsenal).

This turned out to be rewarding for me (chores be cursed, they will be there tomorrow).

In the first 0.5 mile I walked upon dozens of sparrows (Vesper, Brewer's, Lark, 1 Clay-colored, White-crowned, Chipping) searching for food in the weeds along Buckley Road. The only "hoped for" sparrow missing was a Grasshopper Sparrow (which was not to be).

I had my GPS with me, but unfortunately no extra batteries. Trail marks had to be the telephone poles along the road. If I remember correctly, every two telephone poles mark approximately 0.1 miles (or perhaps not).

At the fourth telephone pole from the gate at 88th avenue I came upon 2 Sage Thrashers. They would fly south as I approached, but eventually stopped at pole # 7 (allowed me to continue alone). They did fly on both sides of the road so got them for both Denver & Adams Counties.

At pole # 8, a Burrowing Owl was in the field east of Buckley Road (Denver County).

At pole # 11, a Burrowing Owl was inside the Rocky Mountain Arsenal fence (Adams County).

Continuing South to the barrier across the road, another Burrowing Owl was seen one telephone pole south of the barrier. It was inside the Rocky Mountain Arsenal property (Adams).

The highlight of the day was at 6 poles south of the barrier (I guess I was approximately 2.0 miles south of 88th avenue; therefore 2.0 miles north of 56th avenue). A Fox Sparrow popped up out of the weeds. First it stayed on the fence on the east side of Buckley (Denver) and then flew to the boundary fence of the Arsenal (Adams).

I figured that surely Fox Sparrows have been banded at Barr Lake (Adams), but the Denver sighting could be interesting. Fox Sparrows are neither listed on the CoBus County checklists or the CFO County checklists!!! (until now)!!!

I would have preferred a red form (eastern) Fox Sparrow, but this gray form looked quite impressive in the afternoon sun. It was a "slate colored" subspecies with gray head and gray unstreaked back. "Passerella iliaca schistacea"

Finally, two additional Sage Thrashers were around the old parking area for the Wildlife Watch Area (Adams).

When I arrived at the creek crossing about 0.5 mile north of 56th avenue, two Song Sparrows fluttered about the weeds.

Quite an enjoyable hike and I arrived at 56th avenue just as Rebecca and my ride pulled up!

Chatfield Reservoir and Nearby Foothills

October 1, 2009

Richard Stevens:

Bryan Ehlmann and I drove south to Chatfield Reservoir (Jefferson/Douglas Counties) to see what the winds blew in last night. Winds were still 20+ mph with gusts to 43+ mph.

A few additional birds were on the reservoir, but nothing uncommon. Waves were quite high. No shorebirds walked the shore line. If there were any uncommon gulls or terns, we did not find them.

Best birding was south of Kingfisher Bridge and east of the South Platte River. The hill to the east protects the area a little bit so winds were only 6-7 mph. A Plumbeous Vireo was along the hillside just south of the paved path.

Highlight was a Tennessee Warbler in the wind break at the north side of the pond south of Kingfisher Bridge. These trees are quite exposed and winds whipped the branches about. The bird was quite frustrating to us. We saw a warbler like bird come out to the edge of the branches several times. However, before we could ID the darn thing, it would bury itself back in the thick trees. It took almost 40 minutes before we saw the bird well enough to identify it.

Next we drove up Deer Creek Canyon Road in search of owls or a late Common Poorwill. Denver Mountain Park and Deer Creek Canyon Park were checked without any results. Nothing was heard in the strong winds.