Recovering from Perma-grin!

Birders know that waking up early has its advantages, so do skiers in Colorado. This morning started well before six, and the payoff was a Saturday powder day for me while most of the front range traffic was stuck on the highway! Anyone who has taken face shots off the T-bar at Breckenridge knows that the hours of driving and tired legs are worth it.
As a side bonus I finally have a chance to use the power of the Internet to take us back to last weekend. It was a happy time...Coloradoans hadn't felt double digit negative temps along the Front Range in seasons, and commute times were measured in minutes, not hours. I had celebrated the warm temps and great Cooper's Hawks of my surprising Friday afternoon walk by heading to Arapahoe Basin for a good day of sunny skiing on Saturday. By Sunday I was feeling the itch, and a bit of lactic acid in my legs, so I headed off for a midday walk along the South Platte River in Adams county to work the legs and enjoy the mild temps.


A Long-tailed Duck had been reported in the area earlier in January, and I thought maybe I would get a chance to track it down. Before I came upon many ducks, I had a group of seven small peeps on a rock bar to try to identify. I didn't have an ID in the field, but after looking at the pictures I recognised American Pipits.


No Long-tailed Duck on this trip, but Barrow's Goldeneye are a good consolation prize, (male shown above - left).

One of my real highlight birds was a Northern Shrike. Shrikes aren't uncommon, but this was the most cooperative bird I have had the chance to observe. It was hunting a field from its perch in the trail side tree, and let me walk past below it, shooting all the way.


Of course I also enjoy seeing Northern Pintails, they are just a classy looking bird. There were lots of Pintail on this stretch of the Platte, and I managed to catch this one in flight.


Next up, a species I hadn't found in a few months, Yellow-rumped Warblers. In summer these small birds are like Juncos in winter, absolutely everywhere. However, these days only a hardy (or foolish) few remain. Last Sunday they seemed an omen of more springlike weather, yeah right. At least it was a nice thought while it lasted.


After a great walk I headed for home, and on my way gave a close look at a Great Horned Owl nest near my home. As I drove past I spotted ear tufts! Traffic and my direction only allowed me to get a passing glimpse, but I was consoled a few moments later by this look at a well fed American Kestrel.


Little did I know that in a few short hours the bottom would fall out of the area thermometers, clearing the skies nicely, but making for nasty roads and bringing a good chunk of the regional infrastructure to a standstill. Tuesday evening I was bundled up, and off to watch a basketball game at the University of Colorado. On the way I made a detour to check on the owl nest, and managed a couple of passable shots before cold drove me back to the warmth of my truck.



Great birds, wild weather, and chances to go catch powder days in the Rockies, all wonderful reasons that I love Colorado.

Greetings from Lake Tahoe

2011 has started off right, on vacation! I have been swooshing through some spring-like snow at Heavenly Resort in South Lake Tahoe. After hitting the slopes hard early in the day recovery walks to the lake shore yielded a handful of nice birds, mostly seen in California. Oddly, I am writing this from my hotel room, maybe thirty yards into the State of Nevada.

More to come on the trip and the birds, once I have gotten back to Colorado and had a chance to flip through pics and report my sightings.

I've got "Cooties"!

Uh, I mean I've got Cootlings......or if you want to be all technically correct about it - American Coot Hatchlings.


I was shocked at lunch today when I stopped by the Greenlee Preserve, and saw tiny bits of orange moving around with a pair of Coots on the edge of a large cattail bank.


After shooting several hundred distant pictures I checked the Birds of North America Online article on Coots to find out about these little orange puff-balls. Apparently the color patterns of the bald head identify the chicks to their parents and trigger a feeding response from the adult birds. Whatever the reason for it, seeing these bright youngsters out for a swim, (which they are capable of doing 6 hours after hatching), was a pleasantly shocking surprise.


There were other birds around, like this Western Wood-Pewee, but I'm not going to pretend that there were any other stars of today's lunchtime than the young American Coot chicks.

I love that when birding you may always be surprised. Here I was, out hoping to find one of the species that I had gotten to know this weekend, and blamo, I find out that American Coot chicks are brilliantly orange. Had anyone asked me what a Coot chick looked like 10 hours ago I would have never in a million years guessed the truth. I guess that is what keeps so many of us coming back for more, over and over again.

Gray Day Pics - Part 3

A couple more pics,


American Coot

Yellow-rumped Warbler (Audubon's) Female

Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle's) Male

Slow Days - Longer Afternoons

I don't think Thursday is ever going to get here! Between waiting for all my deliveries to arrive, the NCAA Basketball Tournament to begin, and my pager rotation to be over I think the slowing of time is actually making an audible screech that can be heard across the universe. Well, maybe not, but I do feel like a kid waiting for Christmas. Fortunately when time slows down it allows more time for getting outside, and with the extension of evening daylight that let me get a nice five mile walk in along the South Platte River. I was back in the area looking for the Long-tailed Duck, but didn't have any luck in that pursuit.

The fantastic part about that area is that there is a great deal of water around. I scanned four reservoirs and a good stretch of the river, and there are at least three additional larger reservoirs in the area. While that is great for seeing a bunch of wildlife, it makes the prospects of finding any single individual a bit longer than I would normally like.

But, the day was beautiful, and I saw 30 fairly common species - including my first Western Grebes of the year. The Killdeer up top was in an abusive mood - screaming and yelling at me as I walked past. Can't really blame it though, the lake that it has had fenced off for its own use for four months just reopened yesterday for fishing. There were lots of Northern Shovelers, American Coot, and Green-Winged Teal groups along the actual river. The Green-winged Teal, (male immediately above and Female two up), were showing off their namesake wing patches.

A Pied-billed Grebe shared a stretch of the river with these Coot, all riding the current to better fishing grounds I guess. As with most beautiful weather these days are all falling at the beginning of the week. Friday, a day I have off, it is forecast to snow!

On the way to the Airport

I had an evening flight after work on Thursday, from work I took highway 7 straight east from Boulder, and Tower Rd south from Brighton. The best part about that route, (other than avoiding traffic), is that it swings right past Barr Lake State Park, and I had enough time to drive slowly to the boat launch and back before heading on to park for my flight.

I was following a storm out, so the light was a pretty mixed bag, but it was a nice break between work stress and airport stress. There were bunches of Eastern Kingbirds along the access road.

One of the risks of stopping on the way to the airport is that there is a risk that self discipline will fail, and the necessary time to continue on to make the flight seems to come very quickly. Even as I pushed that limit I had to make one stop as I exited the park. A well marked Swainson's Hawk is always worth a quick stop, even in poor light.

Trip details to follow, but I need to work on a replacement for a failed hard drive in my laptop, (apparently Minnesota didn't agree with it).

A beautiful morning - birds

What a sight to start the day! All those warm colors against a crisp blue sky. Not to mention a juicy green bug for breakfast - Mmmmm Good!

A pair of Mourning Doves were out enjoying the sunshine, they are fledglings I believe - having a more scaly appearance and less distinct eye-ring.

The hatch isn't over though, this momma appeared to be incubating while dad came back periodically with some patching supplies for the nest.

It is certainly a beautiful morning when a Coot can eat a glowing breakfast while swimming on a surface of light.

This jay even managed to make blue on blue look good this morning as he checked me out while flying by. Such a great way to start the day. I hope to get another chance this evening.

Nothing Special, but a good way to start the day

I had to run an errand on my way into work this morning, and the place didn't open 'till 8:00, my normal work time. So I was up and ready and had a half hour to spare today. I stopped by Alexx and Michael's Pond to see if there were any goodies around to start my day. What there were, were millions of gnats, or midges, or somethings. Whatever they were, they were prolific. They didn't really bite, but there were so many that getting them in the eyes became a nuisance.
That and keeping moving to get to work in a reasonably timely manner kept the photography more on the aim and fire side of things than any real consideration of how shots would turn out. The redhead against reflected cattails was nice though.

Some birds, like all people, just look dorky at times, despite their activities. This Northern Flicker already looked out of place on a slab of sidewalk, but getting a half inch of vertical jumping for an insect is just over the top.

I also badly focused this shot of an American Coot's foot. Their rarely seen toes are well designed for swimming and perching, but I guess if my toes looked like that I would keep them underwater most of the time as well.

Finally, after I had left and was on my way I had to make a stop and shoot through my window at this young Red-tail. He/she was so focused on something on the ground that I was able to get as many shots as time allowed from fairly close range.

If only I was disciplined enough to start every day with a bit of nature....but then I enjoy evenings as well.

Broomfield Birding - Nissen Res and Alexx & Michael's Pond

Everywhere I turn there are Yellow-Rumped's, this guy was one of three who followed a Chickadee through some trees at eye level and let me get a much closer shot.



Before I saw him I had headed to Nissen Reservoir in Broomfield to see if an earlier reported Black and White Warbler was still in the trees. It wasn't, but I did add Snowy Egret to my list.


I also had my best look at a Black-Crowned Night Heron, and first sighting of the year. All told there were 5 Great Blues, two Snowys, and the Black Crowned. Not too shabby, for our humble city and county!

After checking Nissen I headed on to Alexx and Michael's Pond which I had driven by, but never walked around. Boy am I kicking myself now. I was walking down the trail before I even reached the pond itself when a Little Blue Heron flew overhead. It was a good thing I had just been watching the Great Blues fly or I may not have picked up on the smaller overall size and dark neck and head. I also got a shot of the first Pied-Billed Grebe I had seen in Broomfield.

Along the way I spotted my first Yellow-Headed Blackbird - it was my first of season since I started a list in October. I also had a chase session with an Orange-Crowned Warbler moving slowly along the brush on the bank, and just as I was returning to my car had a Coot with the best resolution I have gotten yet.

A good way to get home from work on Friday.

BTW, just as I start to think that I am getting somewhat respectable numbers on my list I see that there are group of people in Colorado who have 400 species (in-state I believe) and all 54 14ers under their belt. The list has come up with 6 people. Flat out impressive.

2009 Count: 123

Lifetime: 139

Windy Week Wrap

This is going to be quick for two reasons, after the Dipper there was not much blog-worthy birding in my world, and two I am about to dash home and head from there to Breckenridge for my first skiing of the year. Horrible I know. The twenty something deep inside hates me for not getting up before late February.
Tuesday began the wind, but I had an update from a fellow Broomfield birder that he had seen a Cinnamon Teal in Plaster Reservoir over the weekend, so I rushed over on my lunch to see if it was still around. If it was I didn't see it, instead it was lots of wind, and a harried lunch.

This American Coot was riding the whitecaps.

Last evening I had another go at the Cinnamon Teal, it had been so windy that I would not have been surprised to have missed it in plain sight. It was still absent though, so I had to make do with singing birds and a less windy pleasant evening.

This Song Sparrow kept well back in the vegetation, but some of his mates began to sing.

Red-Winged Blackbirds were singing everywhere.

The irony was not lost that I was enjoying an evening full of signs of spring before heading home to dig out my ski gear from all of last year's hiding spots.

Today at lunch I was looking for shelter from the wind again, so I headed to Eldora Canyon State Park for lunch. It was a bust, but I did spot a Slate-Colored Junco at a trail-head on the way back.

At first I did not even know that it was a Junco, it seemed to long, and light. After looking at the pics more closely I knew it was a Junco, and then noted that it had white wingbars.

From there I did some searching on the White-winged variety, and found that they are larger, and a paler shade of gray. Both of those attributes were what had kept me from initially nailing the id as a Junco in the first place. I guess at least I am getting better at noticing essential differences, even if they are not clear to me at the time.

Now I am off to the mountains, hopefully some good high elevations species while I am there.

2009 Count: 60

Lifetime: 90