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.

Can't believe its been a week

Well, almost a week anyway. Since the last time I wrote, when the temps had been pushing seventy, Colorado and most of the rest of the nation has taken a turn in the deep freeze. I have some fun experiences and pictures to share from last weekend and the week in a few upcoming posts. In the meantime here are some shots from yesterday, when the temps had returned to near zero. With no wind to take notice of and clear blue skies it was certainly bearable, and almost pleasant to be out in.


I had returned to the offices of the Boulder County Open Space and Mountain Parks, to see if I could relocate the Rough-legged Hawk I had seen last week. The fence lined drive where it had been seen previously had a new sight, the American Kestrel, (above), who was doing a bit of snacking in the cold.


I left, and drove south along Cherryvale Road. Another birder, Bill Schmoker, had gotten some incredible shots over the weekend, and had mentioned that the bird had been hunting along the ditch. I had seen his shots from my phone while at a basketball game at the University of Colorado the night before, and was inspired to try my luck again.


I was glad to get another chance at this cool bird, and hope it remains a bit longer so I can have another chance. These couple of shots were a few of a handful that I salvaged out of several hundred disappointments. As I was looking through yesterday's shots I realised that the dial on my eyepiece adapter had been bumped off a notch, and in the cold air I hadn't noticed that I was shooting everything blurry. Frustrating, but one of the reasons to take lots of shots - and to dial in the focus when manually focusing. These and a couple of others would have normally been the throw-aways, but they left me with a few memories of a bright, cold, beautiful winter day, and the bird that got me out in it!

Count Day!

"Hurry up and count me, so I can get back to suet!"

As my past entries on the subject indicate, the Christmas Bird Count has been a special event for me. From a first time exposure to the great people that one can meet while birding, to unexpected encounters with new species, and revelations about new ways to expand identification skills the CBC has always been a highlight of my birding year. This year presented a new challenge, to organize and lead a territory count. While I had my hesitations, I was flattered to be asked to do so by the count organizer. My concern was that I would be taking an opportunity from a more experienced birder, but the need remained and I was happy to give it a shot.

Two of three Coyotes, calculating their chances of success with a group of Mule Deer just after sunrise.

I began by mapping out what I thought the best locations in the territory would be, and then driving around to see what did and did not meet expectations. As I guessed, some of the peripheral areas were our most productive. My guess that some of the creek corridors running through the neighborhoods would also be good turned out to be completely wrong. A large area of trails on University of Colorado pasture/prairie restoration land also ended up being a major bust. That area did generate a Northern Harrier and juvenile Bald Eagle, but failed to produce species our team hoped to find, like Western Meadowlark or Ring-necked Pheasant; all at the cost of over an hour and several miles of extra walking. I believe birders would still be well advised to look to that area on future counts, but may look for ways to check it and similar areas more quickly. Leaving a vehicle at both ends of that trail is a refinement I would consider for future years. Multiple vehicles would have allowed for an end to end search, but without the team having to make a full loop in an area that we quickly determined was under productive.

American Kestrel - hover-hunting in the breeze.

In a bit of a surprise for me, our best habitat turned out to be the last houses on the edge of the open space just before the foothills. I knew they were going to be good, but our species counts from trails running just beyond the developments and the streets on the opposite side of those homes, gave us the greatest species diversity. That transition zone netted us three species of jay, two woodpeckers, both chickadees, White-breasted Nuthatch, Brown Creepers and Townsend's Solitaires, along with two different raptors and many other more common species. During the count compilation, those teams reporting Western Scrub-Jays all found that the species turned up at the perimeter of developments, just as they approached the lower edges of ponderosa pine forest. Not Earth shattering, but a cool confirmation and as I look back at my previous sightings, (Red Rocks Park and Roxborough State Park), one that holds true throughout the Denver area.

Western Scrub-Jay - a species we found in a very specific habitat belt.

Once again my expectations were completely blown out of the water by the people who volunteer for the Christmas Bird Counts. I had three great volunteers, each an accomplished birder and all three were people who had a good time just getting to know the others while being out seeing some cool birds. Each of us spotted species that made for 'good' adds to our day list, and I think as a group we all made one another stronger with our varied backgrounds and skills.

Townsend's Solitaire - a welcome sight on each of my Boulder CBCs to date.

We had a section that was as advertised, it produced a good list of fairly common birds. There were some birds that we were surprised we did not run across during the day. White-crowned Sparrows, Mourning Doves, and Belted Kingfishers were all misses for our count, and despite our best efforts we could not produce a roosting owl. It is amazing to me that even when spending an entire day dedicated to watching for birds, some of the more common species won't turn up.

Brown Creeper - an elusive bird that gave us good looks, and was a lifer for at least one member of our team.

When I look back on this count I hope the lesson I will remember is that identification skill isn't a prerequisite to bringing others together for good birding. Having been taught and lead by so many great birders in the past couple of years I guess I just hadn't seen what happens when a bunch of willing folks get together and bird. It turns out that if you pick a meeting place and have a general idea of where you want to go the rest will take care of itself. In our case one participant even lived in our count area, and invited the three strangers to her home at six in the morning for breakfast - how often does that happen these days?

I hope that all the members of the Bear Creek team had as good a day as I did. Thank you very much to each of them, Bill Schmoker the count compiler, Bill Kaempfer who hosted the compilation potluck that evening, and to all the other birders who participated. To all of them and for anyone reading this...

...may your Holidays be filled with family and friends, food and fun, fur and feathers, and if your location favors it at least a bit of frost!


Bear Creek Territory 2010 Total: 30
Boulder CBC 2010 Total: 114, (A count day record by 5 species) plus 1 'free-flying presumed escapee' and 2 additional count week birds so far.

Louisville Arboretum

Little ol' Louisville has an arboretum. It isn't as fancy as say Denver's Arboretum, but is a nice little area in an open space near my work. I had a few minutes to waste after a haircut, so I stopped by on the off chance that something was hanging out in the now bare trees. I had heard the Blue Jays in the pines as I arrived, but I looped wide to get them on my return with the sun at my back.

At first the only birds in the open were House Finches.


This little lady has her cherry red lipstick on. They were really working on the leftovers of some decorative cherry tree's crop. They look like maraschinos to me.

As I worked back towards the lot a lone brave Blue Jay tolerated my presence as it flipped through the wood chips on the ground.


I'm not sure it was finding much, but it was working hard, swinging its bill from side to side and flipping a chip on each pass.


I realized that the bird had several companions in the pines, one of which I captured in the lead photo. Blue Jays, along with the other corvids, have a reputation for intelligence, and did not remain perched on an open branch of a tree when a long lens is aimed in their direction. I was trying to catch one exposed, when a bird exploded from a closer pine and passed within inches of me a knee level. I instantly thought it was another jay, but it buzzed an American Robin on the ground and then perched atop a barren sapling. A glance at the perched bird was all I needed, an American Kestrel.
I was amazed that it would perch in a pine just feet off the ground, that it would even bother to buzz a Robin, and that it seemingly used me for cover. Always something new out there to be seen. For a small suburban arboretum this sure packed a big punch.

Dive Bomb

Cute little female American Kestrel, right?

Big, tough, Red-tailed Hawk, right?

Not, hardly - here she comes....

A tight pass, the youngster Red-tail has its head turned sideways. The approach had been that close.

She banked and considered a second pass, but opted instead to relocate to another tree and call vehemently at her young adversary.

A real head-scratcher for this giant of a child! I guess there are still a few things for a hawk to figure out.

The judges weren't all that impressed and called it a draw.

Spring Fever

It is way too nice for the 12th of January. I spent my lunch in a short sleeved button down shirt, and was warm, standing still in the shade on a snowy trail. Snow will fall again soon enough, but today was so worth it.

There is a very mild bit of rodent steak visible at the end of this post - so little I hesitate to add a warning - but some are grossed out by the realities of nature - you have been over warned!


I headed to the South Boulder Creek Trail today and didn't ever make it far from the Bobolink trailhead. A male Belted Kingfisher posed for me above the bit of open water emerging from the overpass. Most of the creek is solid, but won't be for long if these temps remain mild.

After a few hundred yards of mostly quiet going I found the birds. It was springlike. I was in the midst of a group of finches, both House and Goldfinches, with a number of Juncos and the lone Downy Woodpecker (above) joining in for good measure.

All of the species were singing, and with the mild temps it was nice to just stop and watch them all busy moving about the underbrush. It truly was one of those days when playing hooky would have been all to welcome, but responsibility does tend to win out, and I left group to its own devices.

As I neared the parking lot on my return I was looking up to id a poorly lit flicker, when movement caught my eye from the next tree along. I found something enjoying a big old lunch!

This American Kestrel was more distant and naturally posed than the one that was so cooperative on Saturday. Fortunately, the feeding shots more than made up for the lack of clarity and harsh light. Kestrels are fairly common, and seeing them hunt and consume critters like grasshoppers and crickets is something I have been able to do in the past. I know that they also add small rodents such as mice and voles to their diet, but seeing this little guy consume a prey item that appears to be half its size was impressive.

Beware, in nature the colorful face that you note for its beauty one day may be the hunter, noted for its ferocity, the next.

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!

Warmer Temps and a Hint of Variety

While checking out the South Boulder Creek Trail at lunch today I did see a Red-tailed Hawk, (I would have been alarmed if I hadn't at this point), but I was fortunate to see a bit of a mix as well. The Great Blue Heron above was cutting behind a tree, but the more overcast sky did more to accent the longer white feathers on the breast.

I had a good long look at two American Tree Sparrows who were eating seeds near some scrubby brush. The breast spot, pronounced white wingbars, and white edging on the tail all help to identify this species as compared to a Chipping or other sparrow.

Another pair of solid field marks, if they can be seen, are the bi-color bill, and rufous eye-line. Note the yellow on the bottom half of the bill, and the closer view of the face below.

I find that in the field the facial differences between the two are tough to distinguish as they bounce around in heavy cover. Perhaps the easiest way to keep the two similar species straight in Colorado is to remember that the Chipping Sparrow breeds here in the summer, and the American Tree Sparrow has returned to its wintering grounds from the far north.

As always the colors of an American Kestrel are a good sight on returning to the parking lot.

Have a safe and fun weekend, I am off to a CFO (Colorado Field Ornithologists) trip at Chatfield tomorrow, and may try to get up to Ft. Collins to try to find the White-winged Crossbills Sunday. They were confirmed still in the area today, so we'll see.

Sunrise Kestrel and Grebe

Just a couple of extra shots from yesterday morning.

The Kestrel had his feast early on Thanksgiving.

This Pied-billed Grebe had some fish, amid a textured scape of fall colors.

Off to do some tailgate birding as my alma matter completes it less than exceptional football season, should be a beautiful day for it.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope everyone who reads this has been able to enjoy, family, friends, food and hopefully a bit of flora and fauna on this Thanksgiving Day.

In addition to all of those things that we are all thankful for, love, peace, security and hope; I am thankful this year that I have had so many beautiful moments in Nature.

Even though they aren't necessarily given their due by my captures I am thankful for the memories, and the lure of the next unexpected sight.

Take care all, and be safe out there!