Leftovers

On a great birding day like yesterday I usually return with a mind-boggling number of pictures. Some species get special attention, and the best of whatever I have taken of those get posted to help share what I have seen in the field. Then there are a great number that are simply saved away, either because they are poor even by my standards, or because they are of common species which have been getting a lot of play in recent posts. However, there was too much yesterday to just be represented by the Rusty Blackbird and American Dipper posts, so here is the best of the rest:

A well started, but incomplete, beaver tree.


If anyone has an idea why that cut pattern would appear I would appreciate an explanation. Those incomprehensible, yet always intriguing beavers - I didn't see them at all, but was amazed that there is an active pond and dam in such a developed area.

A Gadwall - subtle but deep patterns make this a duck whose colors you could lose yourself in for hours.

A Common Goldeneye was engaged in a courtship display. Sure to us it looks like the gargling mouthwash position, but to a female Common Goldeneye that is one 'wild and crazy guy"!

Here is another uncommon species in Colorado, but as shown in this space, one that can be found with some regularity. This is the more typical setting for seeing a Barrow's Goldeneye in Colorado - at a distance on a lake. The one hanging out on the South Platte in Denver over the winter spoiled me, and many others, with the continuous close-up views it offered.

Finally, as I was returning in the fading light I had a pair of Brown Creepers fly into the tree immediately ahead of me. I had to bump the ISO way up on my camera to deal with the low light, but at least that slowed this blur of a bird down a bit.

This last trip has me jumping for spring migration to heat up. As it will be my second, I am looking forward to seeing some familiar birds return, and hopefully being more prepared to spot new visitors as they move through out area. Good birding!

Pictures and Words - Unrelated

The pictures below are all waterfowl from my visit to Erie Reservoir yesterday. They are Common Goldeneyes and Red-breasted and Common Mergansers.


Last night I had what I believe is one of the most sublime encounters one can have in the world of birding. As I left my photography class at around 9:30 last night I heard an unmistakable sound carrying through the crisp night air. "Who-Who-Whoo". It was so clear and so close that I thought for a second it must be an artificial reproduction. I fished out my iPod and played my Great Horned Owl hoots a few times. Then to my amazement another voice answered the first! I immediately stopped the playback, and stood listening to their duet. It was amazing, I stood listening as students walked by alone or in groups, headed for their cars.

I was surprised that a pair would chose such a well lit and highly traveled area for their courtship. I found the far owl quickly, it was on a horizontal branch of a tree, shaded from the parking lot lights by the trunk. Fortunately for me, the dark owl shape stood out against a lighter background in the distance.

The second owl was much closer to me, but other than making a roundabout circle of the area to get a general fix on the source of the hoots I wasn't able to pin it down. Sadly, I didn't have any of the necessary gear to shoot at night, and I had pulled my bins from my case that morning to make room for the additional stuff I take to class.

After a long period of hooting to one another the owls grew quiet, and not wanting to drive them away or interrupt their courting I pulled back to my car. While I was there a woman came up and asked if I was watching the birds. I let her know that I had been and that the two Great Horned Owls were hooting to one another in a preparation for mating season. She said that she had heard them sometime last week and was excited to share them with a friend who had done some wildlife photography in the past.

I hope they hang around as well. I will be listening for them after my next class, and may try to get by some early morning to see if I can relocate them for a few pictures. These owls seem very conditioned to human presence as they see hundreds of people walking by them daily.

City Park Denver - DFO Meeting Birding

Last evening was the first monthly DFO (Denver Field Ornithologists) meeting of the year. I needed to pay my dues, and coincidentally the keynote speech was going to be given by Bill Schmoker. Bill is one of the elite Colorado birders, and a person whose blog really jump started my birding activities when I was still a complete novice and leaning heavily on the Internet for general information and tips. Seeing his photography was a great add to the evening - there were even a couple of shots from the 2008 Boulder CBC that I recognised.
One of the appealing aspects of the DFO meetings for me is that I wrap up my work day at three on Mondays, and so can use the hours before the meeting to do some birding at Denver's City Park. I had just stepped out of the parking lot when I spotted an accipiter cutting across the sky above. I am sure the museum visitors were a bit perplexed by the man with a big camera who suddenly rushed back into the parking lot. Oh well, if they had followed my look they would also have gotten to see this Cooper's Hawk perched above the lot. With all the activity along Colorado Blvd, and in and out of the museum I only merited an occasional glance from the Coop. Of course that was just fine by me, I got my fill of good looks and headed off, leaving the hawk to keep an eye on the lot.

My tantalizing look for the owls that I believe must be around turned up nothing, but a walk along the back of the Denver Zoo took me up to Duck Lake. The cormorant rookery is empty for now, but the lake offered a bit of open water. When I arrived it was occupied by just a handful of waterfowl. I had great relative numbers of Hooded Mergansers and Common Goldeneye, the one on the left below I believe to be a first winter male. While I was looking yesterday I thought it might have been some kind of hybrid with that extra white. I headed on, searching the trees for raptors or owls, and soon from a distance I watched as roughly 2500 geese descended on the valuable watery real estate.

Not all of them had finished grazing though, and I frequently found myself surrounded by large flocks of Canadas, who displayed varying degrees of chill as I passed. Then, I heard a distinct call - almost approaching gullish. I looked over and saw two geese that were not like the others. They were very similar to one I had seen at the park last year, and even commented on at the time. Last year, seeing only a single individual I had dismissed it as a released domestic, as many urban parks attract descendants of former captive birds. This year I looked more closely, and after some more checking this morning am confident that I added two Greater White-fronted Geese to my list. Um-um, that humble pie tastes good! Finding the Greater White Fronted Geese certainly made my walk through large areas of 'goose leavings' and past some less than welcoming individuals worth while. It even helped to console me on not finding any owls last evening. Oh well, there will be several more months, hopefully with warmer dusk temps, before the summer layoff where I may have more luck.

2010 Count: 54

Lifetime: 204

A Whole Mess of Mergansers

On my two recent visits to the South Platte river's course through Denver I have made an effort not to be sucked in for looks at the Barrow's Goldeneye, that is the locale's star attraction at the moment. Sure I have sought him out, and have successfully located him each time. It wasn't until I read another birders report from the area that I realized I might be missing something while I was there. Unfortunately I can't relocate the email or I would give due credit, but someone reported seeing all three Merganser species on their visit. I have seen two fairly regularly, both Common and Hooded Mergansers. Hooded Mergansers (female above and male below), were documented in my Collateral Duckage post from last month. Last weekend they were still present and I recaptured both, with the male showing a relaxed view of his hood this time.

Common Mergansers were there as well, and present in the most numbers. The female below shows the white neck and cheek that help to confirm her identity. Also of note on this individual is the mismatched length of her bill, which seems to have been due either to some past accident to her upper, or an abnormal growth on her lower mandible.

Here, two male Common Mergansers were shooting the rapids near the Florida Ave bridge. Mergansers are long and low slung anyway, so when they get in the rougher sections they practically disappear between the wave crests. For these guys note the plain white lower body, which runs unmarked from neck to tail. From a distance they can seem a bit like a Goldeneye, except for the long orange bill. That mistake is one that I have gotten well past, but what I learned yesterday is that I had been making a different oversight and not even realizing it.

Here was a picture that I snapped of the celebrity Barrow's on Saturday, swimming along with his Common Goldeneye girlfriend. What I overlooked at the time, and even on my first review of the shots, was that the Merganser swimming behind them was not Common at all.

It is a Red-breasted Merganser! I did notice the brilliant red eye, but thought it was just catching more glare in the midday sunlight. As I looked closer another difference became evident. Look closely below the neck!

The dark coloring dips forward, giving this merganser its name worthy reddish breast. I am now left to wonder if I have been overlooking these guys for a year, or if this was one that I can chalk up to hiding in plain sight, behind an even greater rarity. Either way, my first life bird of 2010 is in the books, the Red-breasted Merganser.

2010 Count: 34

Lifetime: 202

South Platte Saturday

I returned to the stretch of the South Platte river this morning to see if I could relocate the Barrow's Goldeneye that has remained in the area. Nature often has a way of presenting its own agenda, and today was no exception. Today the star of the show was this American Kestrel, who was waiting in the parking lot when I returned and was willing to pose, unconcerned, as I approached and got a fun series of shots.

Urban adjusted birds are just fantastic! Why worry about a guy with a camera when trains, trucks, and heavy recreational use are a part of the everyday environment? I was able to approach quite close as the bird focused on joggers, and other activity in the area.

The Barrow's Goldeneye was still around, and seemed to be enjoying the warmer temps with his special Common Goldeneye lady friend. There were a number of birders along the river, and I hope they were able to track him down as well. I finally found him back where I started, just north of the Florida Avenue bridge.

All of the usual waterfowl were present, and in some cases seemed to be around in even greater numbers than the last time I had visited. The Killdeer above was calling its name loudly, letting me know that there were more species to be seen than just waterfowl.

One more shot of the Kestrel, poised for takeoff! Enjoy the weekend everyone!

Goldeneyes

My target bird while checking out the South Platte on Saturday was a reported Barrow's Goldeneye. It had been seen and refound by a number of Denver area birders, at both the Evans and Florida Avenue bridges.



My previous sighting of this species was through bins out in the middle of Baseline Reservoir. It was a chance to see the bird, but nothing like this close range exposure where I was at times no more then 10 yards away from this male as it fished in the rapids.


I mentioned in the previous post that I had started off in the wrong direction from where I parked, and as a result saw a great variety of ducks, geese, and mergansers along the river. Among the many species were a handful of the much more numerous Common Goldeneye. The male above gives an opportunity to see the differences in their field marks. Note the solid upper boarder of the white on the wing, the more smooth transition between the bill and angle of the forehead, and of course the obvious oval shape of the white cheek patch.

Here is a female Common Goldeneye, she has a tell-tale yellow tip to her bill. Should I ever track down a female Barrow's her bill should show yellow from base to tip.

Check this picture for the field marks on the Male Barrow's; it has the distinctive white spots along the back, a noticeable angle between the bill and head, and of course when visible the teardrop shape cheek patch.

Our fine Barrow's fellow wasn't going solo just because he was the only representative of his clan - he just found a Common Goldeneye female, and the two seemed to enjoy some cross species company. I watched as they preened near one another and did a bit of diving in the rapidly moving water below the bridge. Perhaps next year there will be a hybrid or two to sort out!

A great looking bird, and a great opportunity to see it up close!

Recovery at the Refuge

After my very enjoyable first day skiing this winter I had some lactic acid that was screaming to get out of my calves. So I headed over to the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge to do some walking. I love the drive in almost as much as anything about the Refuge. I head north from I70, through some light industrial area with warehouses and train-tracks. The four-lane road hits a "T" intersection at the gatehouse, and after pulling through the road is transformed into a two lane road in the prairie. Granted there is still a mountain of rubble left from the old Stapleton Airport runways, but even that is shrinking. The best part about the road is that generally you can take your time driving down it, and you never know what you are going to see before you even reach the visitor center. In the past I have seen Bald Eagles, herds of Deer, and Coyotes just as a kind of appetizer for what awaits in the refuge proper. Today I was looking left as I drove along slowly, and spotted a nest with what may have been a lump in it. I dug out my bins and sure enough there was a Great Horned Owl nesting within sight of the road. I grabbed my camera and got a few quick shots, but the nest was to far to be more than a large blob in a tree.
Being in my car I decided to try something that I haven't done much in the past. I pulled my 2X extension tube out and attached it to my lens. I was able to use my door frame as a solid rest for my arm and got a much more satisfactory image.





After getting a few frames I headed on to begin my actual walking part of my recovery effort. I started off in the same general direction that I normally follow, heading out across a floating bridge on Lake Mary, and then popping up to the road that overlooks Lake Ladora to see what there is in the way of waterfowl. Being mid-day it was not the bird paradise I have seen in the early mornings, but I did see large numbers of both Common Goldeneye and Canvasbacks, with a handful of Common Mergansers thrown in for good measure.





While watching the Lake I enjoyed a Northern Harrier hunting on the far side, out of camera range, but a fun show through the bins. I walked South and East away from the lakes and through open fields and low shrubby growth. There was not much bird activity, but I did see two Bald Eagles ascending a thermal, and two Red-tailed Hawks perched at the top of a large tree. As always I was surrounded by deer, near the lake I had six Mule Deer casually walk behind me through an open field, and later I passed another group lounging under trees.






I crossed back to the East and returned to my car via the Prairie Trail. Unfortunately the clouds were filling in, and aside from the Prairie Dog town there wasn't much activity to be seen. It was a beautiful day for a hike though. I love that in Colorado you can be carving turns in fresh snow one day, and be warm on an easy hike the next. Spring is close at hand in our urban prairie refuge.





Finally as I drove back out I caught site of a Kestrel with prey. I made a quick stop to soak in another great moment at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal.


2009 Count: 61
Lifetime: 91