Jackson and Prewitt Reservoirs, Start of an Eastern Plains Trip

May 28, 2014

Richard Stevens:

Bryan Ehlmann and I settled on make a trip to Northeastern Colorado and then south along the Eastern border for the rest of the week.

It was a beautiful late spring day (although temperatures are starting to rise; high was 88 degrees).

Our first stop was Jackson Reservoir (Morgan County).  Highlights included a Blackburnian Warbler at the south end (below the dam).  No Eastern Screech-Owl was enticed to call today.

Along the western side Campgrounds, two Long-eared Owls continue and perhaps are nesting.  A White-throated Sparrow was observed in the trees west of the marina while we searched for additional Long-eared Owls.

The rest of our birding day was spent at Prewitt Reservoir (Logan/Washington).  Warm weather has started to bring out the mosquitoes.  While they were not too bad today, it will not be long before we will be birding in long sleeves.

A superb male Mourning Warbler was found below the dam.  A waterthrush put us in a long pursuit before we could call it a Northern Waterthrush.  Our first look appeared to be a Louisiana Waterthrush.

At the inlet area, we found a Magnolia Warbler and Townsend's Warbler.  Again, we hoped for the second Blackburnian Warbler of our day.  It took 20 minutes to confirm it as a Townsend's.

Other birds found included a Baltimore Oriole, Great Crested Flycatcher, warblers (MacGillivray's, Virginia's, Wilson's, Yellow, and Yellow-rumped), and a Plumbeous Vireo.

After dusk, we relocated Eastern Screech-Owls at the inlet area and below the dam.

Mt. Evans Byway

May 27, 2014

Richard Stevens:

We heard about the opening of Mt. Evans Byway (Clear Creek County); Bryan Ehlmann and I decided to search for White-tailed Ptarmigan and other birds.  However, when we arrived at the Park, winds blowing snow and ice over the road closed Mt. Evans Road at Summit Lake.

Eventually two Brown-capped Rosy Finches were seen flying over the rocky hillside at the northwest corner of Summit Lake.  We scoped around Summit Lake and the field east of the parking area searching for White-tailed Ptarmigan.  None was found.  We decided not to walk around the snow landscape and limited the search from the main road.

On the trip back down to I70, we scoped Echo Lake and found two Barrow's Goldeneyes swimming around.  They had been previously reported by Karen Tillou, thanks!

At Genesee Mountain Park (Jefferson), we found a male Williamson's Sapsucker around the group picnic pavilion.  A pair of Williamson's Sapsuckers was observed around the flagpole at the top of the mountain.

Continuing east, we made a brief stop at Belmar Historic Park (Jefferson).  The Worm-eating Warbler previously reported was quite cooperative.  It was fluttering about the tall cottonwood tree just south of the ornamental pond, east of Kountze Lake!

Burrowing Owls continue at the prairie dog village at 3.4 miles east of Tower Road and 96th avenue.  No Short-eared Owls could be found along the DIA Owl Loop (Adams).

Back In Denver, Some Great Bird Sightings

May 26, 2014

Richard Stevens: Email sent to "cobirders" listserve:

Hello cobirders;

Bryan and Sue Ehlmann, Rebecca Kosten and I spent the last eight days searching for owls in Larimer & Jackson County.  

Today we returned to Denver by way of Jefferson and Arapahoe Counties and found a few interesting birds.  First we stopped at Welchester Tree Park, Jefferson County and watched the Blue-winged Warbler.   It was only the sixth Jefferson County Record (or will be when accepted by the Colorado Bird Records Board).

 A quick hello at a friend's home near Wheat Ridge Greenbelt's Prospect Park added a male Northern Cardinal to our day list.

Rocky Mountain Arsenal (Adams County) had few birds.  A Baltimore Oriole was around the Rod & Gun Club bird blind.  Two Baird's Sandpipers were at the Havana Ponds mudflats (dam broke, ponds flooded field to the north).

As we drove to the south end of Cherry Creek Reservoir off Jordan Road to search for the Prairie Warbler reported a few days ago, we passed Picadilly Road and 6th Avenue.  I notice a woodpecker on the telephone pole at the southeast corner; its green color caught my eye.  It was a Lewis's Woodpecker!  I can only find two other Arapahoe County records of Lewis's Woodpeckers:
9/10/1967  Cherry Creek Reservoir Van Remson
8/21/2009 Byers,  Ted Floyd.

It was a first county sighting for all of us!

At East Caley Road, east of Jordan, we hiked the cement bike path north to the footbridge and beyond.  A Red-eyed Vireo was on the west side of Cherry Creek (at 40 yards north of the footbridge).  Continuing east over the bridge, a Tennessee Warbler was in the tall willows south of the bench underneath the Cottonwoods, 80 yards from footbridge.

A pair of Lazuli Buntings (beautiful colors) was 20 yards west of the fire hydrant (another 100 yards east of the the above bench).  I caught a reddish color bird farther east.  A Rose-breasted Grosbeak was found in the cottonwood trees south of the hydrant.

The male Black-chinned Hummingbird is still hanging around just east of the Cherry Creek Reservoir ranger's office.

Continued Good Birding!

Directions to birding spots on CoBus website:
http://coloradobirdingsociety.net16.net

Owl Survey, Jackson County

May 18-25, 2014

Richard Stevens:

Three friends accompanied me in inspecting "my" Boreal Owl nesting boxes in Jackson County.  Most of the time, we escaped the rainy weather hitting Denver.  However, a couple of times, we walked around in light snow.  One night, Bryan and I camped 7 miles from a highway and saw a couple of inches of snow by daybreak.

For the last eight years, I have been monitoring 157 owl boxes in the Colorado State Forest and surrounding area.  Winter snowstorms and summer heat is taking a toll on the boxes.  In addition, approximately 20 percent of the boxes have been destroyed by deforestation. 

In spite of the conditions and long hikes, it was a successful survey.  We ended up with a Boreal Owl count of eleven birds.  Included it this were two great highlights.  Two of the boxes are being used by Boreal Owls!  Used boxes were at 9358' and 10521'.  Another box had an American Kestrel; two additional had two squirrels.

On one "rest day", we circumvented snowdrifts on wet, muddy roads and made a slow trip to the Teller Ghost Town.  No Northern Pygmy-Owls were found but we did see a male American Three-toed Woodpecker at the northern end of the self-walking tour of this old silver mine town. 

Snowdrifts were higher southeast of the Ghost Town and we were not able to survey the Owl Mountain area for owls.  We were a long distance from any help if our jeep was stuck.  A 4-wheel drive vehicle is a necessity to drive these roads even in mid-summer.

Another morning we watched three Greater Sage-Grouse at the Jackson County 26b Leks.  Later the same day, we caught a Caspian Tern flying over Delaney Buttes Wildlife Area and two additional Greater Sage-Grouse at a nearby lek!  It is/was late in the season to see birds at either lek.

One final highlight, a Flammulated Owl was found at 9358 feet elevation up Ruby Jewell Road.  It is generally stated that Boreal Owls are found 9000-10500 feet and Flammulated Owls reside 8000-10000 feet (a liberal generalization to be sure).

A Day In Elbert County

May 17, 2014

Richard Stevens:

Bryan Ehlmann and I visited several ranches in Elbert County today.  A couple of public locations were searched for birds also.  Besides migrating warblers, vireos and such we hoped to search for Common Poorwills and Cuckoos.

Winds were 12 mph, gusts to 23 mph; temperatures reached the high 60s.

A Rose-breasted Grosbeak and Tennessee Warbler were highlights in Kiowa.  They flew about the trees at the Kiowa County Museum.

We found no Dickcissels at the traditional Elbert Road field 5.1 miles south of Kiowa.  No Common Poorwills were found at their traditional locations.

The three private ranches that were visited turned out to be quite birdy.

private ranch #1: The stream behind the bunkhouse was hopping with birds.  These included: Magnolia Warbler, Townsend's Warbler, Blackpoll Warbler, Cassin's Vireo, Gray Catbirds (2), Spotted Towhees (5), Green-tailed Towhee (2), sparrows (Grasshopper, Clay-colored, Brewer's, White-crowned, Song, Savannah, and Chipping), Western Kingbirds, Eastern Kingbird, Western Tanager, and Bullock's Orioles.

private ranch #2: the second ranch with a trickling stream: Chestnut-sided Warbler, Blue-headed Vireo, Nashville Warbler, Gray Catbird and Green-tailed Towhee.

private ranch #3: No creek here, but some nice birds: Cassin's Vireo, Plumbeous Vireo, Tennessee Warbler, Black-and-white Warbler and Red-eyed Vireo.  No Common Poorwills were found today; they nested (eggs found) on 6/16/2002.

An hour before sunset we returned to private ranch #1 and watched a Short-eared Owl fly back and forth down Kiowa Creek.

Return to Rocky Mountain Arsenal

May 16, 2014

Richard Stevens:

Hello cobirders,

Bryan Ehlmann and I spent the last couple of days owling in Larimer & Jackson Counties.  When we returned this afternoon, I dropped Bryan off and picked up Rebecca.  We drove over to the Rocky Mountain Arsenal around 4:00 pm.  It was a good chance!  We hoped to find the Palm Warbler reported a couple of days ago along the south side of Mary Lake; that never happened.

Winds were 5+ mph and most of the birds were in the gulch just south of the Mary Lake trail.  Hoping for a Northern Waterthrush walking along the trickle of water in the ditch, first we found a sparrow that we were almost sure was a Swamp Sparrow.  One additional look would have been nice.  However the sparrow stayed low in the willows along the gulch, eventually disappeared at the closed eastern end of the trail.

Our next bird was a thrush.  We were allowed three or four looks of 20 seconds or so and were positive that it was a Gray-cheeked Thrush.  It also moved from west to east up the gulch.  As the Gray-cheeked Thrush was followed, we found two Swainson's Thrushes and a Hermit Thrush also.

Then we came upon a secretive warbler which appeared to be an "Oporornis" (no wingbars, gray head, olive back).  With additional looks we saw a very narrow broken eye ring, gray head, and bright yellow belly.  It looked like a female Mourning Warbler.  Yellow in lower breast, belly and undertail coverts, shape of an "Oporornis" warbler.  Too big, wrong shape, wrong colored head and wrong underneath colors to be a female Common Yellowthroat.  Absent of Strong eye ring (broken in MacGillivray's Warbler and complete in Connecticut Warbler) and long undertail coverts with short looking tail ruled out other "Oporornis" warblers (wrong facial pattern for Kentucky Warbler).

Later we hiked to the Havana Ponds area.  The dam broke during last fall's rain storms.  The field below the dam is now filled with water and the "Havana Ponds" are a mudflat.  We did not find the American Golden-Plover reported a few days ago.  Two American Avocets were on the mud flats.

To our surprise, the flooded sandy field below the old dam had 500+ Ring-billed Gulls, a dozen California Gulls, four Franklin's Gulls and one Bonaparte's Gull.  Among the many gulls was a larger black headed bird which turned out to be a Caspian Tern!  This did solve our mystery of what happened to all the gulls at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal?  High waters at Lake Ladora and Lower Derby Lake have left no exposed shore.

On our way out, another 300+ Ring-billed Gulls and half a dozen California Gulls were standing in the prairie dog town south of the Visitor's Center.

We had skipped lunch/dinner to get to the arsenal as the hours have been 6:00 am to 6:00 pm for quite some time.  I flagged down a ranger who stated that as of 5/15, the new hours are sunrise to sunset.  He also mentioned that they are becoming strict about enforcing the 30 mph speed limit (as a birder looking for birds, I seldom am going over 25 mph); watch out.

Other birds observed included many Western Kingbirds, four Eastern Kingbirds, one Cassin's Kingbird, Sparrows (Chipping, Lark, Song, Brewer's, Clay-colored, White-crowned and one Savannah), Swainson's Hawks, Red-tailed Hawk and one Golden Eagle.

Continued Good Birding!

Directions to birding spots on CoBus website:
http://coloradobirdingsociety.net16.net

Richard Stevens; Director, Colorado Birding Society
Denver, Colorado
Contact CoBus/Report Interesting Birds: 303-324-7994
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Owling Trip to Northcentral Colorado

May 14-16, 2014

Richard Stevens:

May 14

Bryan Ehlmann and I headed to Jackson County for some owling.  Along the way, we made several stops.

Our first stop was a private yard near Washington Park (Denver County).  A birder had reported a Carolina Wren in her garden for the last three days.  While Bryan and I watched the Carolina Wren, Angela Koehler texted that two Carolina Wrens were currently flying around her yard!

Angela's yard is about 1.3 miles southwest of our location!

Next, we stopped at a friend's ranch outside of Loveland (Larimer County).  Northern Saw-whet Owls have nested on his property for 4 of the last 5 years.  They are back again this year.

Afterwards we continued to Estes Park (Larimer) and walked the Cow Creek Trail.  A Northern Pygmy-Owl briefly called (north of the wooden stairs about 0.7 miles west of the trailhead).

We continued over Cow Creek in search of Flammulated Owls.  Unfortunately, none was found this night.

May 15

The feeders at the Colorado State Forest Visitor's Center had few birds around.  The large number of Red-winged Blackbirds probably kept most other birds away.

Late in the afternoon, Bryan and I hiked the west side of Pennock Pass.  The road is closed between Stove Prairie Road and Larimer County Road 27 due to muddy conditions. 

Winds were calm and the full moon lit up the forest.  Eventually we found two Flammulated Owls.

May 16

On the way toward Gould, we looked for owls on Cameron Pass. Two Boreal Owls were heard this morning.