Back at it...

Two years running I've lost some momentum come summer. Some.

Hiked Mt Falcon the other day though-- dry as I've ever seen it-- and saw a Western Tanager hanging in... Also a new Plumbeous Vireo-- cool nuff! Ain't seen one of them yet... :)

Last night we brought lawn chairs down to the creek-- Bear Creek-- and plopped them right in the water, sat down with feet in the water. The resident Great Blue was heading downstream as we pulled up-- Gretch always spots him. And then we noticed bird activity downstream, so we turned our chairs in that direction. Three Waxwings were popping in for a drink-- hadn't seen them for at least a month. Gets so hot and dry here midsummer I start thinking everything with wings should be moving to higher elevations, but no-- they're still some Yellow Warblers around, and the Dipper is a regular along this stretch of creek as well...

Outta time for the moment-- good morning summer trip out to Chatfield today. Some new stuff for the year: Willet, Western Sandpipers, three raptors with banded tails that I can't figure out, brown flycatchers, and then... a pair of kingbirds harassing a raven-- and the one rode on the raven's back in flight for a second. Pretty serious harassment. Then they switched over to the pendulum harassment-- dropping/ swooping down at the raven from two perches on either side. The raven at least five times their size, cowering...

later

COVID birding

Yep. Birding during COVID times. The new world of not knowing about tomorrow, what virus you may have that's keeping you coughing and tired, what the world will look like in a few months. And the stay-at-home-as-much-as-possible.

I've got lots of good stuff walkable from my front door: Morrison Rez, Red Rocks, Bear Creak Lake State Park. And spring migration is just kicking in...

Cormorants, song sparrows, a resident red-tailed, blue herons at BCL... a new great horned nest, high in the Cottonwood above the first parking lot, the pair having taken up residence in last year's red tailed's nest. Good spot-- easy to see the kitty cat ears even from the road while driving east to the lake. And then a bonus-- a shadow swept over me on my walk back from the lake two days ago, in the morning sun-- a Cooper's-- not going far, as it turns out, breaking, sorting, and adding twigs to her nest just 15 feet above the trail. Will be a nice one to come back and check on.

A week prior: three mountain bluebirds at. Soda Lake-- east/ past the boating area near the rocks on the north side. Good stuff-- best blue of the winter. One guy solo, another pair a bit back west in the tree, easy in each other's company.

Yesterday the temp dropped-- from misty and wet in the a.m. to colder in the afternoon. I was antsy as hell from all the E-teaching, sitting at the table with my laptop, grading work and answering student questions, helping Clemmie with her math and other projects.

Took off for Main Rez-- a 10minute drive into the burbs, something I'm not doing much of, but allowing myself here and there. All outside, not many people out because of the cold, snow coming in, giving each other 6+ feet on our respective walks...

Worth the trip, for sure. First, beyond the usual, some Killdeers along the muddy edges (water is down). A few fisherman here and there... Next, a lone Horned Grebe, doing lots of diving by herself, keeping an eye on me it seemed, but then working her way back south as I walked the same way along the shore. White neck, grey body, brownish head. Thin neck. Great diver...

And then... two Western Wood Pewees in the rocks, casando para insectos, as I traveled back towards the Starbucks (still be visiting, primarily via drive-thru). Brown with white wingbars, blackish head. Not 100%, but couldn't find any other close matches. (it's described as typically grey-- these two had a nice brown going, along with the blackish head). But the feeding behavior matched up, and I could find any other possible matches, so yeah! The first pewees of the year.

Sun coming back out today. Maybe a jaunt over to Wheat Ridge Green Belt. Chatfield tomorrow with a friend-- look for that Golden, as well as Balds, and see what waders have showed up at the south end of the lake, as well as what changes with the soon-to-increase water levels--

with Clem and mama bear

Lots of my birding happens alone, which is partially a function of getting up and getting out early, and stopping on my way home from work somewhere. Works out just fine cause I can go at my own pace and stop and check things out for awhile if i want. Sometimes take Janx-- good birding dog: she's mellow, listens to me pretty well, just make alot of quick movements so doesn't flush alot of birds.

But some days G and Clem are along with me, which is good too. Though both can tire a bit of my investigations, pace, or mileage. Harriman Lake can be a bit monotonous, too. It wasn't a place I ever went prior to birding-- had driven by it a hundred times over the years, but never stopped in. Reason? Just a simple 1.5 loop around a lake: no elevation gain, mostly dirt road, no big boulders to climb on or anything. But factor in the birds and it's gravy...

First time I pulled up a Red Tailed had just killed a rabbit... Before I was able to get out of the car, he flew with him to a nearby barbed-wire fence, and the rabbit remains got hung up in the barbs. Red Tail was nonplussed, then frustrated in his attempts to extricate his meal from the wire and move on. I watched as he tried again and again, working of course with just his feet and beak. Even thought about getting out of the car, shooing the bird off, untangling the rabbit myself and dropping it clear for him to retrieve. But the other voice in my head was saying, "Tob-- he's dealt fine with these challenges till now-- leave him be. He'll figure it out, or won't..."

Three minutes later he managed the dis-entanglement and moved on...

Anyways, today Clem right-away announced she WAS NOT going on the walk with us, when I said we were going on a walk. So I sweetened the deal for her a bit: 5 bucks if she could identify 10 different species of bird. She was in-- game on :)

Mallards were the first ducks: easy enough. I'd tried to prep her for the look of the Coots, Widgeons, and Blue-Winged Teals in the car on the way over. It took a little more direct instruction, but after a few minutes she could clearly differentiate the first two. (Didn't see any Blue Wingeds-- they were all over about a month back, but no longer). But the new addition to the pool was the Lesser Scaup: hadn't seen them yet this fall but here for four of them...

Then an excited burst from Clem: "A Red Tail Hawk! A Red Tail!" as one swooped low, just over her head, and then came back up to land there in one of the cottonwoods.

We continued: a flurry of house finches, the sound of a blackbird (only one, though I've seen hundreds in huge, garrulous flocks before), and on up ahead to the inlet adjacent to the Great Horned Copse (good viewing to the center of the lake).

A wise-ass Realtor by the name of Bud slowed to ask a few questions: "What do you see out there? I see a bunch of DUCKS..."

I lured him over, told him to have a look through my binocs and he'd be able to see a Bufflehead along with the Coots, Widgeons, Geese...

A Dufflehead? he asked. Then spent some time trying to adjust to the binoculars, without much success. Tried closing one eye, like he was hunting, he said. Then switched gears to real estate and gave us his card, made a few comments about what the Fed would be up to soon, and interest rates, and a few more random cracks, and moved onwards. I'm thinking I'm definitely not calling this guy if we sell our house-- he's looking for an audience even more so than looking to make some money--

No Pied-Billed Grebes-- they've moved on after consistent residence throughout the spring and summer. No Owls or Balds or Mountain Bluebirds. But we hit 13 species by the time we rounded the bend towards the car-- a Magpie. And were on our way to lunch, Clemmie happily demanding the payoff...

Mountain bluebirds

Had the day off yesterday-- my admin team decided at some point that having students the day after Halloween wasn't terribly productive, or fun perhaps. Good for them; good for me.

A friend stopped by to plan out a lighting project with us; we lingered in the driveway talking partners and kids and challenges at work and the nastiness of people at times and... good to catch up but i was also itchy to get out birding.

Kept it close: Janx (the cattle dog) and I drove a few miles east to the boat launch of Bear Creek Lake. Yeah, Bear Creek Lake. Who decided to put two general names for different bodies of water into one name? But yes-- there's a park and a lake that get that name...

Same group of sparrows darting around just south of the boat launch-- American Tree Sparrow. Always near that one spot. A couple of Canadian Geese, and a big flock of gulls. I walked around to have a closer look where the creek comes into the lake: yup, Ring Billed Gulls.

But otherwise... the place was kinda empty. In the spring/summer there are plenty of songbirds in the cottonwoods on the west 1/4 mile I'd just walked, and usually at least one Great Blue, a kingfisher, some Cormorants out in the water, an occasional Pelican. But close to nothing happening now.

Two miles away to the southeast Harriman Lake has probably 8-12 different species of ducks and waterfowl that have come in for the winter, or at least for a stopover. What's the difference in preference? Bear Creek Lake has the creek emptying into it, as well as more riparian area to the west. Would almost seem the better choice.

I walked back an along the north shore. There'd been a hawk in one of the dead trees on the shore, but a group of kids coming around had sent him off. Couldn't find him.

One group of kids regarded me from the picnic tables as I passed-- I was friendly and upbeat with them, so there was a subtle change from general suspicion of old guys with binoculars to friendly: "Enjoy your walk, mister" one of them called after we as I continued.

I passed the teacher and three more of the kids, then five minutes later ran into another three. They seemed unsure. "Yeah, we're looking for our group," one told me. I sent them onwards, after the others, then called back to them when I heard a coyote start up across the water on the south shore. They stopped short, unsure if I was joking, then a little nervous. Coyote won't do nothing, I said, he's just talking. Don't worry bout him. They continued on.

I turned left near the dam and headed up towards the road. The park was empty and I could just walk back that way instead of back through the mud. There's a rocket launch area there where the rocket nerds congregate on Sundays and blast off their creations. Nobody there today, but some movement between the three pines on an otherwise treeless hill.

First, a Say's Phoebe, alone in the winter light, top of one pine. Nice-- haven't seen one of them in awhile, and I wasn't sure they stuck around this late either. Yeah, just check the map-- this guy is probably headed to Mexico in the next week, if not today...

Then behind me a pair circled-- interrupted by my movement but not going too far away: Mountain Bluebirds! Map says they are year-rounders, though I haven't seen 'em all summer, and I haven't seen them in the deep winter, either. Nice catch, I think. They could be headed to points a bit further south.

Walked back to the car, drove to the nature center, checked out the feeders. Chatted up the naturalist there that knew her birds pretty well. Told be about a mountain lion car-kill a few weeks back on Morrison Road. Bummer.

Back to the house for lunch...

flashback to summer, cape cod part 1

Took a trip to the Cape this summer...

When I was a kid, excited anticipation mostly applied to our annual trips to Aspen to ski. For months I'd look forward to that week.

As an adult, plans to climb sometimes kept me up...

But I also noticed, as an adult that sometimes when people would ask "Are you excited?" about (fill in the blank),  I'd think, nah, not really. Just kind of taking it all in stride these days. And I'd think maybe that was something that was happening with age-- I just didn't get that excited by things to come.

But wait! Here I am in my 50s with a new hobby, and there's definitely some eager anticipation associated with planned trips and outings...

The Cape didn't disappoint-- songbirds in Mark and Renee's yard were already great, and then there were the daily walks down to the beach in the early morning: plovers, sandpipers, gulls, terns, scoters. Man, what a treat. I'd been coming to the cape now for years and definitely had noticed the birds, but this was the first year I'd been back since being born again as a birder... Is that an accurate term, being born again?

I was first-born as birder, I think, back on the slopes of the cloud forest outside of Tegucigalpa. La Tigra. I was tailing some birder guy who was calmly pointing out and identifying the flashes of color below. And the colors were so striking-- vivid, almost inexplicable splashes of paint on a green canvas. I was intrigued...

up to Fort Collins--

Thursday, I had an assignment from my school to go observe another classical academy school up in Fort Collins. I was a bit grouchy and resistant Wednesday evening-- caught up in the middle of my work-week, somewhat drained of energy-- then realized I could make a birding day of it as well (duh!) I've been to Fort Collins only one other time-- to run a marathon, years ago. My assigned school was to the east, near the highway. I pulled up a map and had a look around. Plenty of bodies of water to choose from. I figured I should be able to find some birds of interest, hunkered down in the cold weather (we were just coming through the last day of an arctic cold front-- temps had dropped close to zero that morning), or there to stay for the winter. Suddenly I was getting excited about an excuse to drive north. First stop: Fossil Creek Reservoir.

I got out the door just before seven Thursday morning. Sky lightening. Dark mornings lately at the end of October, but that changes this weekend with daylight savings. Yay for Tob-- I'm definitely a morning person, and like having my light then as well.

I managed to get through the growing traffic of our metropolis and head north on 25. Clear skies, blue, wintry-- felt more like a December day. Warmer again in Denver, but the temp gauge dropped consistently as I drove north. By the time I found the Fossil Creek turn-off, it read 10 degrees. I pulled into an empty parking lot except for one other car. No sign of anyone though. Everyone was busy getting to work, or staying warm inside. I parking facing south and was looking right at a flock of sparrows. Mostly brown, in the winter-dead stalks of plants along the parking lot berm. Closest match I could come up with later was the Savannah Sparrow, but the Merlin app suggested the numbers I saw were highly unusual. I'm still not seasoned enough with some species to make a definitive call...

The rez was mostly frozen, but with some open water. Good thing for me, or the birds would've been elsewhere. Hawk flew by low as I walked in. Canadian Geese on the ice; Northern Shovelers in the water. I stopped and looked, then walked further to an observation point. From there I could see four pied-bill grebes, then two terns flew by! Looked like terns. Pretty sure they were terns, but... when I did some research later that night, they weren't listed as a possibility for Fossil Creek. Which doesn't mean they weren't terns, but does mean maybe I was wrong.

I spied a lone Killdeer down on the bank after hearing him. He looked cold. Wonder if he got caught by the storm. I don't remember seeing them in the deep winter last year, but Ebird says they're around in Colorado throughout the year. Huh.

I kept checking the cottonwoods for a Bald on the way back to the car-- nope. Onwards to my observation...

and the people...

Yes-- the people part of this blog. I've met some interesting ones for sure. Birding has been my in to conversation on walks, my invitation to others to check in. When you have a pair of binoculars around your neck, people know. So other birders say hello with a "seen anything interesting today?" and there begins the conversation.

At Harriman I met a short middle-aged lady-- has a few more years than me-- that knows the birds of that one lake well, but birds nowhere else. Residing nearby, that was here one walking and birding spot. Good enough! There's plenty there to see, including all the waterfowl, Cormorants and Hawks, Great Horneds, the occasional Bald. Huge flocks of redwing blackbirds (at times), a nesting pair of Western Kingbirds on the northern shore in the cottonwoods, occasional waders, plenty of swallows, meadowlarks off the northern shore, and all the songbird migrants that pass through, including the rare-to-the-area Northern Parula...

I'd just noticed the song associated with this little guy when i was exploring the same copse of cottonwoods I've mentioned elsewhere in this blog-- the song was definitely one I didn't know. Then suddenly I was joined by two guys, one right away asking, "Did you see it yet?"

"See what?" Turns out someone else had just posted the siting, and these guys were there looking for the same little dude I was listening to. We found him an all had a good look. The one birder thanking the other over and over for letting him know. I moved on, on my usual clockwise track...