City Park - Denver

Monday evening; on my calendar, the September meeting of the DFO at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. I had missed the August meeting while I was in New Orleans, so it was good to have a reason to head back down to Denver. As I try to manage when my schedule allows - I headed down early and walked with camera in City Park in the late afternoon. A Ring-billed Gull was enjoying the lakeside in the afternoon light.


Walking further I reached 'Duck Pond', where among a handful of species this Double-crested Cormorant was airing its wings with a few slow beats. Those blue eyes are great when they catch the light. Double click the photo if it doesn't show up in the blog formatting!


I continued my loop, cutting back over to City Park Pond, and spent some time with the Snowy Egrets that remained near the island that hosts their rookery. This one wasn't in the best light, but I really liked the patterns of the water in the background.


I unwittingly timed my walk to complete at the Museum steps just as the sun was sinking beyond Denver. Despite showing my need for a graduated neutral density filter, this picture managed to capture enough of the sky color while preserving the detail of the pond, pavilion, and capital dome. Below, an exposure set up to capture more of the color of the sky.


I am always pleased when nature and events come together to provide a memorable scene. Being at one of the iconic photographic views of Denver, on a mild evening in September, with colors abounding and people out enjoying the evening was just fantastic. Not having my short lens in hand, and not being ready with a filter are just reasons for me to keep trying for improvement!

Backside of a Storm

Tuesday I headed down to Cherry Creek Reservoir. A Neotropic Cormorant has been around, along with all kinds of migrants, and I thought I would pay a visit to see what I could find. Initially I thought I was on the young Neotropic Corm, but it turned out to just be a juvenile Double-crested Cormorant instead.


That was not to say that I regretted the trip. I had several good year birds, including this Black-crowned Night Heron among others. This was an early shot, as the storm was brewing overhead. I wandered around the marina to the edge of the dam, when the sun finally dropped below the clouds and stared reflecting. I hustled back to the fishing pier, and was treated to a great sight as the storm moved west.


A full double rainbow was huge before me, and the lower bow was repeated on itself at least three times. It was so perfectly aligned that it seemed as if I was looking through a tunnel into the distance. Of course a telephoto isn't a tool for that job, so the gull flyby will have to do.


Cherry Creek was full of Western Grebes. I guessed two hundred, but that may have been low. They were everywhere, and even with all that variety I couldn't find a single Clark's among them.


I headed back down last night, similar weather, and still no Neotropic. Lots more pictures to get through, and aspirations fro the weekend, so we'll see what happens and when they get posted.

2011 Count: 90
Lifetime: 252

Got Grebe?

Just when I thought I was back to a routine last week my car battery started acting up. So, quite a few days later I was back at Standley Lake Park checking to see what was about at lunch time. I was fortunate, one of the Horned Grebes was still around. It was fairly close to shore, and in better - if overly bright mid-day sun. I parked and approached along the shore from the west. That gave me better looks than I had gotten when looking directly south from the road. Grebes, for those who don't know, are diving ducks. They submerge for long periods chasing after fish like the one above. While they are underwater is a great time to gradually move along the shore towards them. As I was conducting the 'squat and scurry' routine two geese arrived to confirm that I was not some aggressive predator. I am not a huge fan of the Canadas, but these two, (there were two), swam along shore to where I was standing, emerged and circled me within arms distance. Waited, I guess to see if I would feed them, and then after getting a drink headed back to the water. There are a bunch of fishermen along the shore, so perhaps they are conditioned. These two weren't overly aggressive - they just checked my spot to see if I was at a good feeding spot and then went on their way. A handful of gulls were out as well. All the individuals that I could see were Ring-billed. This picture and one other did raise a good photographic question though. I was panning with the birds, from about 12:00 to 10:00, starting due south. Notice the ghosting? I am curious if that is an effect of the camera's processor computing light and dark regions vs the rate of panning motion. Any ideas or thoughts? Feel free to leave a comment or shoot me an email. *Update - just looked at this on a different monitor and the image looks fine* Gulls and Geese aside, this little Grebe definitely stole the show today!

Not even a week behind!

Here are a few shots from the middle of last week. There weren't a lot in the way of photographic highlights, but it was still good to be out.


The Ring-billed Gulls were all that was out on the then-frozen Lower Church Lake. I had a couple of watchful birds flyover before returning to their gathering place well out on the ice.


Then, after getting my season gate pass to Standley Lake Park, I made a lunchtime truck tour of the south side of the park. It was cool and windy, and a ranger I met along the way said she hadn't seen anything down around the rookery. As she was leaving I heard bird sounds close. I looked around, listened, looked around again, and then found three Horned Larks working their way around the parking lot I was in. In winter these birds were surprisingly well camouflaged on the pebbly surface.


A birdless weekend was highlighted by an unexpected basketball win for the CU Buffaloes. Last evening got this week started on a much more bird-oriented note. The monthly DFO meeting featured Paul Bannick, author of The Owl and the Woodpecker. If you are a fan of birds, photography, or considering the interdependence of species this book is worth checking out. Paul gave a great presentation, and had our hardened group of birders and photographers ooh'ing and ah'ing at his incredible images.

Morning Walk

This morning was crisp, but the wind had died down (mostly), so I stopped by Stearn's Lake for a pre-work walk. The Northern Harrier was already hard at work patrolling the fields for rodents.


A Ring-billed Gull was cheating a bit, it flew up to get an early sunrise.


Northern Shovelers were doing their thing as well. I believe the two are young males, with an adult male just visible behind and to the right.


Last but not least, one of a group of Song Sparrows popped up on a fence as I headed back to the parking lot. The birds of the season have arrived, but the weather is still mild. Seems like a drive to the mountains is due for this weekend.

Birds from Last Week

Prior to watching the sun set last Wednesday I had done some actual birding as well. Here are a few of the shots:

A White-crowned Sparrow working on dried blooms.


A female Ruddy Duck, the white cheek with a single dark line through it help on this species.


California Gull in flight.


Ring-billed Gull in flight.

Birding hasn't happened for me since, and I have been missing it, despite being busy doing other fun things. Hopefully this weekend, although the opening date of a certain mountain ski area may have an impact.

Chatfield State Park at Daybreak

Occasionally my work requires me to be a different office, one that is conveniently close to Chatfield State Park. Driving from the northern edge of the Denver metro area to the southern at rush hour is not my idea of fun, so I started early on Friday and spent an hour at Chatfield State Park as the sun rose. I particularly wanted to work a bit with a different auto focus setting to see if I could get better results than I had with the Pipit. Before the sun had even risen the Osprey were hard at work, keeping the fish population in check.


For flight shot practice there may be no species better than gulls. They are inquisitive and predictable, often flying loops along the same stretch of shoreline. I was able to get a couple of passable shots, and confirmed that I am going to have to study up on gulls before the coming winter.


These were far from great, but a really good way to start a work day. Making my way back to my truck I headed away from the lake and followed a road, dividing areas of mowed lawn and native grasses. A Townsend's Solitaire posed on its perch in the early light, soaking up the soft colors.


Only a few minutes later the colors were getting brighter as I stopped to watch a bunch of Yellow-rumped Warblers doing their constant motion thing.


After work my plan was to return to Chatfield immediately and spend another few hours walking and birding rather than adding to the traffic congestion. As I headed back I saw a sign that indicated Chatfield and Roxborough State Parks were accessible from the same exit. With nothing to do but kill time I had to go for the different venue. It is one that I have certainly heard of, but really enjoyed getting to visit for a few hours. I would have enjoyed the visit if only for the red rock formations, scrub oak covered trails in all shades of fall color, and birds; but then there were the foxes who totally stole the show....

Cool Down

After an early morning that featured two, three mile, down then up hikes I was ready for an afternoon cool down, somewhere that offered flat terrain. I decided to spend a couple of hours at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge.



This was a limited intensity birding hike for me. Doing anything on a windy expanse of plains at mid-day is a challenge. Even so, the refuge offers so much to see that even at during admittedly quiet birding hours I still knocked together a 27 species list. The gulls had descended on Lake Ladora, but a contingent were always airborne, riding the gusts and keeping the usually quiet plains fairly noisy.
My effort was rewarded by a few personal first-of-season sightings, including the Horned Lark below.


Against a windswept, grassy, background the horns of a lark can be difficult to pick out. For this bird my ID started in the field and was confirmed before I had zoomed in or cropped this image. Look for the three colors in the tail. The Horned Lark features a tail that has narrow white edges, and a brown central stripe, on otherwise black feathers. It is a good sign, and one that once recognised can be used at highway speeds as these flocks take flight from the roadside.

The Refuge always seems to have a group of Mule Deer somewhere in sight. On this visit I had to make a detour to avoid coming between a lone male and two youngsters who had left the shade of a copse where the rest of the herd was resting. Taking the roads that led the longer way around showed me this deer who did a couple of cuts between mom and the rest of the herd as I tried to remain as far away as possible.


Good thing they carry around their own pair of sun visors!

One positive from strong sunlight is that it can make some markings stand out.


The roufus and white patches on the male Gadwall are much more visible in this light than at dawn or dusk.

Finally, with the least quality is a Franklin's Gull in breeding plumage. This gull is similar in appearance to the Laughing Gull (non-breeding plumage), that I saw in Baltimore last fall. The easiest way to tell these two apart is that the Laughing Gull localizes to the Eastern U.S. seaboard, while the Franklin's Gull migrates north through the plains to Canada in the spring, and back south to Peru in the fall.


Hopefully I get a few more shots to improve the quality this spring.

2010 Count: 97
Lifetime: 210

Morgan County Day Trip

On Saturday I decided to undertake a self-guided birding excursion. It was to be the better of the two weekend days, and I wanted a chance to really get out and enjoy the high plains environment, beyond the urban sprawl of the Front Range corridor. Flipping blindly through my Colorado atlas, and doing a bit of reading on the Colorado Field Ornithologists' birding website, I decided to head out to Morgan County for the day.
Morgan County is a 'smallish', rectangular county in Northeastern Colorado. It is the next step east from my large, neighboring counties of Weld and Adams. The county features a state park on a good sized reservoir, a well developed agricultural and commerce corridor bordering the South Platte River, and it is handily located along interstate I-76 - making getting there a snap.


My first stop, and main birding area, was Jackson Reservoir State Park. Having left my home at just after 7:00, I was pulled in and counting birds before 9:00. My first sighting in the park itself was a male Ring-necked Pheasant. A good sign of things to come, but on this outing the photography was taking a back seat. I was trying to lean a bit more on my ears and bins first, and get shots as an afterthought. It was a good decision, when I got back that evening I found that my sensor had somehow picked up a collection of dust to rival the area beneath my bed - yuck. Despite that there were a few pictures worth sharing, and species that didn't make the cut.
Above were a group of gulls taken from the pier on the west side of the lake. It was near an area of open water that had some great birds hanging out. Before getting to the gulls in the picture believe me when I say that my report of 48 Bald Eagles was conservative. I had to stop looking for species after I had arrived and just do a sweep of the area to count individuals before they moved around too much. Adding to the impression of the sight was the fact that only 10-15% of the lake was open, so the birds were gathered in a small area of the rather large lake.

Back to the picture above though. I caught the two gulls contesting a catch which was fun, but check out the darker guy on the right - a California Gull. I tallied the California, a good number of Herrings, and of course Ring-billeds at the park. Three gull species, not bad, I guess my gull watches are having some effect.

Gulls are still frustrating though, so lets pause to admire a posed Dark-eyed Junco. "Ah, that's better." The Juncos were part of a loose mixture in the trees as I cam back from the pier. I had American Robins, Mountain and Eastern Bluebirds all interacting with them. The Eastern Bluebirds were the first that I had seen in Colorado.

After checking some of the Russian-Olive groves in that area I met another birding couple who mentioned having had a group of 7 Long-eared owls fly into the trees near them back near the visitor center. I stopped by on my way out of the park. I never saw the owls, but enjoyed this odd moment of nature from the parking lot. Two tom Wild Turkeys were displaying and competing with one another, but were separated by a chain link fence. I have no idea how long the dominance display lasted, or if in a Turkey's mind such a thing can be decided when there is an incomprehensible barrier dividing rivals. It was good for a watch though, and more comical as there was a large opening in the fence just to the left, but these two were so hung up with one another that they may still be there now.

After a very enjoyable time at the park I headed off for my next target - a pair of adjacent parks in Fort Morgan along the South Platte, one of which was appropriately named Riverside Park. A pond there had the full compliment of exotic waterfowl, along with high numbers of both Canada and Cackling Geese. Riverside Park was a bit overdeveloped and crowded on a mild Saturday afternoon, so I headed for the more natural Canfield Park. I had to work for birds, as my walk out was pretty quiet, but eventually birds started appearing. The river itself was strangely dull. I saw 6 Mallards and 11 Killdeer on the banks or in the water, and that was about it. On my return trip I stayed more inland, and was rewarded with more cooperative subjects, like this American Goldfinch.

As I turned from the Goldfinch a Wilson's Snipe exploded from the bank of a fishing pond behind me. A few minutes later a fisherman on the far side flushed it again, and it landed briefly in the open to allow a single shot in the light.

As I walked along I added a pair of Downies and dozens more Red-winged Blackbirds, and got this shot of an Eastern Bluebird posing with the sun at its back.

It was now mid-afternoon, and I had one more area I just had to check out. One of the locations the CFO site listed was a winding county road that cut through the dunes in the southern portion of the county. I wanted this route as it was reported as a great site for raptors, and who doesn't like winding country roads through dunes?

On my way south I picked a road at random from my atlas, county road "Q", and drove east. It was while I was on this road, trying to reach my target while swinging past a SWA, that I witnessed a site that many are inspired by, hundreds of miles away at Bosque del Apache. That site was the rising of thousands of white geese from a reservoir that was dammed immediately to my right. Because the light was fading my pictures were a sad display, but I will be back in the area again to try to do justice to what I was able to witness. Just incredible!

To that end, if any reader happens to know the area, please feel free to reply to let me know if the large processing plant on the south side of that reservoir has any public access to the lake? It is just south of County Rd Q, and west of the Brush Prairie Ponds SWA.

In the fading light I did head on, and reached my target road. I saw no one for ten miles, just two dogs that chased me for a mile or so, and one Red-tail Hawk. I wouldn't have traded the experience though. At one point I stopped to pull a jacket from the back seat, and got out just to listen to the silence. I wasn't rewarded with any sightings, but that didn't matter right then. Finally as I was returning to a paved State Highway and turning back to the interstate in the cloud induced early dusk I had a pair of Harlan's Hawks, one flying and one perched, in my area. A good sighting to wrap up my first of many visits to Morgan County. The hundred Ross's Geese I saw added one life bird to my list in force. I had hoped for photos, but there should be more opportunities as migration approaches.

2010 Count: 70

Lifetime: 207

Gettin' Back: Gloomy Day Gulls

Long time, no blog. Some kind of bug kicked my butt and kept me in bed for three days. I had gotten in a hike on Monday afternoon, but other than some Chickadees, a large flock of American Robins, and a few Ravens overhead there was little to report. I did see a nice Ferruginous Hawk on my drive back from Boulder County, but puling to the side of a busy highway only allowed me passing looks from a distance.
So after three days of sleep and a long Friday in the office, I was ready for some pond hopping where the focus was on scrutinizing gulls, rather than a whole lot of walking. After reading more reports from others about the Glaucous and other uncommon gulls in my own home town I had to give it another shot.
My most productive stop was once again Indian Peaks Pond, where this time arriving at mid-day showed me much larger flocks to scan through. I think I am getting better at picking out the Herrings and occasional Thayer's Gulls, but the bird below gave me pause:


I believe that it is a California Gull. It is darker than the Ring-billeds around it and slightly larger - and it had the black ring with red spot on its bill. As always, if I am wrong please leave me a comment or email to let me know where I went wrong. Gull ID sessions usually take me hours, flipping back and forth between species across numerous different guides. Not necessarily a bad thing when half watching Olympic coverage.
Next up is one of the rare birds that has been seen repeatedly in the area.

Here we have a Lesser Black-backed Gull. In addition to the obvious darker coloring and red spot on the bill, take a closer look at the bill and leg color.

It is described as a bright yellow color by Sibley. Despite the darkness of the day and the loss of some color clarity, the difference between it and the Ring-billed bill is clear.

Finally, amidst all the snow and dreary skies this Western Meadowlark was showing off its new breeding plumage. My picture failed to show just how bright that yellow appeared against the snowy background, but it was a literal 'bright-spot' in an otherwise drab day.

I still failed to locate the other rare gulls, but considering the movement of gulls between the numerous reservoirs, lakes, and landfills in the Broomfield-Boulder area it may still be a while.

2010 Count: 63

Lifetime: 206