Walking the Meyers Homestead Trail

This is a bird focused post, but when a little ground squirrel stopped to observe me I just had to get a shot.


I walked the 5.2 mile out and back trail at the Meyers Homestead area of the Boulder Mountain Parks and Open Space on Monday afternoon and evening. The last time I had been up here was early spring, and there was still snow and mud to contend with. I can't believe it had been that long. Now the area was filled with late season wildflowers and a great variety of birds.

Hummingbirds were present, I saw both Broad-tailed and Rufous varieties visiting the many wildflowers. Surprisingly all were female, that makes the identification process much more difficult.

A species that is always fun to watch, but difficult to photograph is the Mountain Chickadee. Like all chickadees they are in constant motion, and on top of that try getting contrast on a dark eye in a dark eyeband - over a white face that would just as soon be overexposed. Something that will keep me trying for years. Their faces make the Black-capped variety look positively clean cut and straight laced. Seriously, if raccoons are supposed to look like bandits what are these guys dressing up as? Hitmen?

While on the trail I had three good looks a the species above, the Warbling Vireo. It took me some searching to get the identity firmed up, but I am glad to have made its acquaintance.

Also on the list was this Hermit Thrush. I have been reading so many reports of Ovenbirds in the Boulder area that I was thinking that was what I had found as I walked. After I had a chance to do some checking I got it straight, and now should have a better sense of them both.

One more look at a Rufous Hummingbird having a snack. Those blooms seem to be custom made for them - just watch a bee try to get all that nectar.

2009 Count: 166

Lifetime: 176

Gregory Canyon - Round 2

I set the alarm for 4:30 this morning, and let the Robin ruckus outside my window drag me out of bed. Just so I could have another shot at seeing the Scarlet Tanager that many have reported along the Gregory Canyon trail in Boulder. So far, the reported sightings have been in the early morning hours, and since my previous attempt had been in the evening I have been looking for an opportunity.
Somehow what I missed in the forecasts of improving weather for today was that the morning was going to remain socked in under a heavy fog cloud layer. It made for poor photography, but birding in an "Endor" like canyon with few others around was still so worth it.
The first bird I put bins to was a Rose-Breasted Grosbeak. A bird I have seen in the past, but another lifer since I began building my list. That made the rest of my climb to the area of the Tanager sightings easy! Unfortunately no pictures due to the low light.


Later I did try a few frames of a Broad-tailed Hummingbird at my feet. The gloom was just a bit to much. Unfortunately round two was just as unsuccessful in tracking down the Scarlet Tanager as Round 1 had been. I was standing there when a hiker came by. He said, "have you seen it?" "Not yet", was my reply. "Well it's here" he continued, "I just saw it on my last hike". I confirmed with him that it was not either further up or down the trail, but right were I was watching, but still no sightings. So even the non-birders are getting good looks at this eye popping out-of-towner, but I will have to persevere. At the very least I am getting good exercise and beautiful walks in a place I enjoy.

I also noted on this walk just how much our recent rainy weather has pushed the vegetation along. The bottom of the trail has been seriously encroached upon by grasses, overhanging limbs, and a good section of poison ivy. I hope all those trail runners are watching where they place their feet. Perhaps the clouds made the S.T. sleep in, and the three or four birders I saw headed up the trail as I returned had better luck than I.

2009 Count: 153

Lifetime: 166

Gregory Canyon - Round 1

Peek-


A-Boo!

I went back to a Boulder favorite last evening, Gregory Canyon, in search of a reported rare resident the Scarlet Tanager. Unfortunately for me I missed it, but then I will be more likely to make special trips back to that great area if I have a carrot on a stick in front of me. Especially a brilliant red carrot with black trim.

Even missing the Scarlet couldn't keep this goldmine from producing though. I had three life birds, one of which posed for a respectable picture, and two will be hunted again in the future.

The good:

A Gray Flycatcher.


The potentially oh-so-good:

Western Tanager.


And the - through no fault of its own - ugly:

Virgina's Warbler. Note: Ugly applies to the photographic rendering, the bird itself is fantastic.

The sad part on that one is; that I have an even less focused shot that shows the yellow undertail coverts which helped me make the ID. My next frame had the perching branch in focus as the bird had just dove down the length of the tree and behind a larger clump of branches. I guess I'll just have to get faster on the focusing draw.

To finish on a cleaner note here are two better picks of more common species, a Turkey Vulture circling in the sunlight (there were 8 in the kettle), and a Spotted Towhee on what I believe is a Raspberry branch. Should be good bear and bird food later this summer!

Fortunately on this trip there were no snakes visible whatsoever. Really, it is much nicer that way.

2009 Count: 150

Lifetime:163

Doudy Draw - How Have I Missed This Place?

Here's an old friend from my Nebraska trip, now seen in Colorado

Back in the mid-Nineties, when I was an undergrad and a new arrival in Colorado, one of my favorite drives was south on Highway 93 along the foothills in the late afternoon or evening.

It still is - for all the same reasons. As you drive along, hogbacks and mesas break the view eastward towards the cities of the Front Range. The setting sun will peak between the rock outcroppings of the Flatirons and foothills, and make a natural splendor of light and shadow. In addition, for stretches of that fantastic hilly and curvy ribbon of asphalt you can lose sight of all development, and picture just for an instant how the untouched splendor of the Rockies must have appeared 200 years ago.

You could say I like the scenery a "bit". Knowing all that it is amazing to me that until last night I had never had the inclination or desire to visit the Doudy Draw trailhead. I have hiked, biked, and driven all around the area, but had never jumped on one of the trails heading along or towards the foothills west of 93. Now I know - insane!

Hummingbirds look like they never quite bought into the idea of feathers over scales.

Finally the idea of migrants and a known Boulder hotspot made me pull into the lot on the left side of the street rather than the right, and BLAMMO, there I was. A nice trail runs along the South Boulder Creek valley, and eventually climbs along the ridge to offer occasional peaks through at the Flatirons and foothills to the north and west. With just a bit of haze it was spectacular.

A House Wren and its mate appeared to be busy carrying nesting materials to the back of a nearby tree.

Word on some of the Colorado Birding email lists is that the changes to the trail configuration at Doudy Draw have made it less appealing, and frankly I can see why. More of the trail has been shifted up the hillside and away from some great riparian habitat. However, even seeing that the older trail which is now blocked off looked much more favorable I am willing to accept the area as is. I look at the hilly trail before reaching the ideal habitat as a buffer between the dedicated and those looking for an immediate reward. After all, part of what has attracted me to doing this so often is the chance to find peace and calm, and an active relationship with Nature that had been missing from my life. Walking ten paces from a parking lot to a overlook, or worse, shooting frames from my car window is a necessary compromise at times, but it really can't compete with a good walk on a beautiful summer afternoon.
But, then again I have only been birding a few months, and had never been to the site before, so what do I know?

This Rock Wren knew that its place was on a rock.

Even with a more distanced trail the birding was still fantastic. I had new species for my lifetime list, the House and Rock Wrens pictured above, a Catbird, Western Bluebird, Yellow-Breasted Chat and Clay-Colored Sparrow all pictured, just not well enough for here! That was not all though, oh no. There was a whole family of species that I had been waiting to see all winter, Orioles. I don't recall ever having noticed an Oriole in Colorado, and only once as a kid in Minnesota. Last fall though I learned that the little hanging balls of fishing line or fiber you see on trees can be Oriole nests. As I have walked and observed through many habitats this winter I have seen the nests everywhere, an known that at some point I must find one of those colorful birds at the back of the guide.

Yesterday was that day:

May I present, the Bullock's Oriole!

All of the color of a finch or warbler, none of the tiny size issues. It was great fun to find and watch these colorful individuals, there were two that I saw. They act quite shy and elusive, but their brilliant yellow-orange plumage isn't very conducive to hiding in the thin spring growth. A bit frustrating when taking pictures to not often see the face, but more bearable when the comic value of bits of orange poking beyond both sides of the same thin branch is realized.

Great color, great location, great afternoon.

It was a bit of a milestone day on the counting side of things. I broke through 150 on my global lifelist, reached 130 in Colorado, and broke 100 in my first county, Boulder. I have learned so much through these early months, and can't wait to see where I am when I reach the one year anniversary. That will hopefully be many productive months from now, after the end of spring migration, a whole summer, and then a fall migration to boot. Good times and continued improving photographs ahead!

2009 Count: 136

Lifetime: 151

Eldorado Canyon State Park

I stopped at Eldorado Canyon State Park for lunch today for the easy lifer, Broad-tailed Hummingbird. They are common sites at higher elevations, and even going the couple of hundred feet up into the canyon made them likely targets.

In addition to seeing them at the Visitor Center feeder I also had them perching up above on the telephone wires headed up the canyon. They are so small and active that getting sharp shots of them in natural perches will be challenging. What I am going to need is a mountain cabin with shaded deck, a comfy chair and some cool beverages, I think I may enjoy that challenge sometime this summer.

It was so nice to be up in the canyon today. The sun was shining and the rocks and dirt had that; hot day, summery smell. It is the smell of hiking out of the forest and onto a dusty meadow trail up close to treeline, bliss.

**Update: Golden-mantled Ground Squirrel**

It took all of my self control to return to the office, but I did, and will enjoy my weekend so much more for still being employed.

On an unrelated note the two species above are thwarting my efforts to identify them online, if you can ID one or the other - specifically - please let me know.

2009 Count: 129

Lifetime: 144