Update!!!!!

There's only one downside to birding. If done correctly, there aught to be very little time left over for other worldly needs, such as blogging. Such is the case as of late. I have really been going at it gung-ho. Since Jan 6th, when I bought my bike computer, I've ridden 539 miles.
The best bird of the year, so far, was a Ruff (see field sketch above) that was present at Boulder Reservoir on May 1. Ted Floyd discovered it in the morning, and it stuck around all day giving me the opportunity to ride out to see it after work. The rarest bird that I have discovered was a White-eyed Vireo on May 6 at the Greenlee Preserve. Standing at 168.

Here's a list of the birds I have seen since my last blog post, in order of oldest to newest:

Big Blue Stem Trail, April 8, 2008

Bushtit (# 109)
Cooper's Hawk (# 110)
White-throated Swift
Peregrine Falcon

Westview Drive, April 12, 2008

White-crowned Sparrow

Pella Crossing, April 13, 2008

Audubon's Yellow-rumped Warbler

Lagerman Reservoir, April 13, 2008

Baird's Sandpiper

Boulder Reservoir, April 17, 2008

White-faced Ibis
Marbled Godwit
Wilson's Phalarope
Sandhill Crane
Least Sandpiper (# 120)

Gregory Canyon, April 20, 2008

Canyon Wren
Broad-tailed Hummingbird
Clark's Nutcracker

Walden Ponds, April 20, 2008

Bank Swallow

Boulder Reservoir, April 20, 2008

Willet
Eared Grebe

Cherryvale Office, April 22, 2008

Brown-headed Cowbird
Vesper Sparrow
Northern Rough-winged Swallow

Baseline Reservoir, April 22, 2008

Spotted Sandpiper (#130)

Bobolink Trail, April 22, 2008

House Wren

Greenlee Preserve, April 25, 2008

Solitary Sandpiper
Yellow-headed Blackbird
Violet-green Swallow
Chimney Swift
White-throated Sparrow
North Teller Lake, April 25, 2008

Black-necked Stilt
Semipalmated Plover

Walden Ponds, April 25, 2008

Western Sandpiper
American Bittern (# 140)
Orange-crowned Warbler

Sale Lake, April 27, 2008

Black-and-white Warbler
Wilson's Warbler

Soccar fields near Diagonal Highway, April 27, 2008

Chipping Sparrow
Boulder Reservoir, April 27, 2008

Savanna Sparrow

Walden Ponds, April 27, 2008

Semipalmated Sandpiper
Brewer's Sparrow
Virginia Rail
Lincoln's Sparrow

Bike Path east of Foothills Parkway, April 27, 2008

Lark Sparrow (# 150)
Swainson's Hawk

Walden Ponds, April 29, 2008

Long-billed Dowitcher
Common Yellowthroat
Eastern Kingbird

Boulder Reservoir, May 1, 2008

Ruff

House .3 mi south of Boulder Res, fixing flat tire, May 1, 2008

Plumbeous Vireo

Cottonwood Trail, May 1, 2008

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

Walden Ponds, May 4, 2008

Bullock's Oriole

Valmont Reservoir, May 4, 2008

Common Loon

Walden Ponds, May 5, 2008

Yellow Warbler (# 160)

Lookout Road, May 5, 2008

Western Kingbird
Burrowing Owl

Back at Walden Ponds, May 5, 2008
Great Egret

Greenlee Preserve, May 6, 2008

White-eyed Vireo

Mt. Sanitas Trail, May 7, 2008

Dusky Flycatcher

Gregory Canyon Trail Head, May 7, 2008

Black-headed Grosbeak
Western Tanager (# 167)

Eldorado Mountain and N. Teller Lake 4-6-08

Today I went on a rather long excursion covering over 30 mi. I started out riding out to my field site where there have been several good birds that I see daily...but not BGBY countable. These include pairs of Eastern and Western Bluebirds, a Red-naped Sapsucker, a Cooper's Hawk on territory, and rarely a Golden-crowned Kinglet.
My biggest nemesis so far has been Pine Siskin. I hear them every day up in the Ponderosa Pines, and occasionally down here in town. The other day I drove to work and stopped at the local coffee and bagel shop. As I was walking in, I heard a PISI fly over...arg. I've been taking almost daily walks around my neighborhood in search of things like Siskins and other common feeder birds, but with no luck. Today was different. I was only two blocks from my house, on a street that I normally don't walk, when I heard my first PINE SISKIN for the day (#99).
I headed to the Eldorado Corner Market and grabbed some Gatorade and stepped out back to see if I could find the Say's Phoebe that I had seen there a few days ago. No luck. So off towards Eldorado Springs to the Eldorado Mountain Open Space I went. On the ride I heard what sounded like the begining of a Ruby-crowned Kinglet song. I stopped and pished for a moment but didn't have anything other than Mountain Chickadees and some Dark-eyed Juncos respond. Hmm, I must have heard a junco sqeeking. As soon as I stopped my bike at the trail head, however, a bonafide RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET (#100) began to chatter from the drainage. On my way out he was singing.
Today was very mild, around 60 degrees maybe and sunny with clouds and wind building in the afternoon. I hiked up to the burn area where I had been seeing the above mentioned birds. There has been one pair of Eastern's and two pairs of Western's around acting very territorial and I'm really hoping they stick around to breed. From what I can tell from the CO Breeding Bird Atlas, a nesting record of Eastern in a Ponderosa Pine forest would be unique for the state. There are some historical records of all three bluebird species nesting in the same stand of trees, but my impression was that those were in Aspens. When I arrived at the burn...all was quiet. I spotted an Abert's Squirrel and some Mule Deer. I headed over to where I have a remote camera set up to look for a strange aster-like flower I had seen a few days before. When I got to my camera spot, the pair of EASTERN BLUEBIRDS (#101) appeared, getting all riled up, chattering and singing away. Just prior to their appearance, I could have sworn I heard a distant tooting, almost like a Pygmy-Owl, but I left it as just a distant Flicker or something.
The Eastern's were acting agitated, and I didn't want to bother them. I started to head over to where I had seen a male Red-naped Sapsucker and Western Bluebirds. But the Eastern's just kept flying around chattering away, going in the same direction I was. Man, I thought, I'm really pissing these guys off. Who knew I'd be such an annoyance to them? Suddenly, I heard another bluebird enter the chatter. I looked up and spotted an adult male WESTERN BLUEBIRD (#102) only 15 m away in a snag. He flew right towards me and landed in the crown of a another snag, right next to a NORTHERN PYGMY-OWL (#103)!!!!! No wonder they were so pissed off. And all that time I was selfish enough to think that they really cared about me, ho hum :-( I enjoyed killer looks at the Mountain Pygmy-Owl as it sat in the snag for several minutes. I shot a few record shots and even got shots with both Western and Eastern Bluebird harassing the owl. I turned around and looked to where the sapsucker should be, and there he was, a beautiful male RED-NAPED SAPSUCKER (#104) right on cue.
I searched around Spring Brook for the Golden-crowned Kinglet and Cooper's Hawk, but didn't have any luck. I hiked around to the back side of the hogback where I had a good view of Eldorado Canyon. I scanned and scanned for Peregrines and White-throated Swifts, but struck out. That's ok since there are still some upper foothill birds (Canyon Wren, Bushtit, Long-eared and N. Saw-whet Owls, Violet-green Swallow etc.) that I need and I'm sure to pick those up later on in the spring. I did spot a pair of Prairie Falcons flying around the north side of the canyon and watched one bird shoot up into her aerie. As I was riding back out towards Boulder, I began to think about that Say's Phoebe again. I began to think "dang, where is this sucker?" rather than "OK, this is a nice area for Say's, should keep an eye out" when I spotted the bird on a fence. I like how that works sometimes, just thinking of a bird and having it magically appear. SAY'S PHOEBE (#105).
North Teller Lake out near Valmont and 95th has been producing some good shorebirds this week. Earlier in the week, one of the City Rangers, Jean, sent out a heads up email that there was a large flock of American White Pelicans here. That night the same word was out on the local bird sighting listserve, as well as news of other goodies like both Yellowlegs and Avocets. With the wind at my back, I made really good time getting out east of town to the lake. And just as reported, 170 AMERICAN WHITE PELICANS (#106), 5 AMERICAN AVOCETS (#107), 1 LESSER YELLOWLEGS (#108) and 25 Greater Yellowlegs were milling around. I made a quick stop at Cottonwood Marsh but there wasn't anything too exciting going on there. Then it was a blustery ride into the head wind back to my house.

Valmont 4-2-08

Although all the ice in the area has long since melted, there are still good numbers of gulls going in to roost at Valmont Reservoir. California Gulls are now abundant, about 1/3 of the birds present this evening and last. On my ride over to Legion Park from the office, I spotted a MOURNING DOVE (#97) on Westshore Dr. As I set up my scope on my already crippled tripod, the little knob that is used to screw the scope to the mount snapped off. Now it's missing 2/3 of a leg and I can't attach the scope. I can still balance the scope on top which seems to work just about as well as before. Piece of junk, but trustworthy. I scanned the gulls a few times, and was disappointed not to find my target Franklin's Gull (there were 9 here last night). I took a minute to study the local male Red-tail that was perched on his favorite utility pole below the overlook, and when I looked back at the gull flock 5 adult FRANKLIN'S GULLS (#98) had materialized.

Walden Ponds, 3/30

More and more birds are arriving. I had several new birds for the season, and for my BGBY, today. After waking up to a dusting of snow, I thought my hopes for a ride out to Walden Ponds were destroyed. But by lunch time the sun was peeking out and the roads were dry, so I saddled up. I took a route that followed some urban trails (Skunk Creek and Boulder Creek Paths) to Valmont Rd, then east to 75th St. Near the Foothills Parkway underpass, I had my first BGBY bronze COMMON GRACKLE (#84). I went up to the bridge on 75th that crosses Boulder Creek. My friend Ben and I discovered a pair of American Dippers building a nest here last week. Today, the male was sitting on a rock singing away under the bridge.
As soon as I arrived at Cottonwood Marsh, I picked out a few new birds including GREEN-WINGED TEAL(#85), CINNAMON TEAL (#86) and a GREATER YELLOWLEGS (#87). After repositioning for better lighting, I spotted two male BLUE-WINGED TEAL (#88) as well. No snipe or Marsh Wrens were evident, though, so I took a walk out around the perimeter of the ponds. A few small groups of TREE SWALLOWS (#89) were hunting over the ponds and Boulder Creek. When trying to get a better look at a strange dark-morph Red-tailed Hawk, I discovered a series of trails that led down to the creek on the west side of the property. Some great riparian habitat back there that should be productive as spring progresses. I found these two primaries from an intergrade Red-shafted x Yellow-shafted Northern Flicker. I was thrilled to find 2 male, 1 female WOOD DUCK (#90) hiding back there. I was alerted to the presence of a day-roosting Great Horned Owl by a few noisy Black-capped Chickadees. 4 TURKEY VULTURES (#91) floated overhead.
When I arrived back at Cottonwood Marsh, there was a large flock of swallows feeding low over the water. I stared at the flock for a few minutes and was able to pick out 2 CLIFF SWALLOWS (#92) from about 70 Trees. A single WILSON'S SNIPE (#93) was sitting right where it was supposed to be at the edge of the cattails. Another check of the swallows produced a BARN SWALLOW (#94), and the local MARSH WREN (#95) began to chatter near the boardwalk.
Although the sun had come out for about two warm hours, by 5:30 the cold clouds had rolled back in and I packed it up and headed home. I made a quick stop at Legion Park to see the OSPREY (#96) sitting on its nest. An added bonus was a flock of 20 Bohemian Waxwings sitting in a willow tree with fresh spring leaves on the side of Baseline Rd. A healthy 13 new birds!

66th Street Arrivals

March 25th was a gorgeous day, so I took advantage of the fair weather and rode out to 66th Street off of Marshall Road after work. A few new arrivals for the spring have become abundant in the last two weeks including Western Meadowlarks, Killdeer and Mountain Bluebird. These were my targets as I headed out from the office. About a mile down the road I had my first singing WESTERN MEADOWLARK (#81) on Cherryvale Rd. It wasn't long after I had turned onto 66th St that I heard an agitated KILLDEER (#82) near a small cattail marsh and Black-tailed Prairie Dog colony. I spotted a pair scurrying around the Prairie Dog burrows. Chorus Frogs have begun to trill. There was a group of 5 MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRDS (#83) hunting in the field to the west of the road. An adult Red-tailed Hawk showing characteristics of a Fuertes' Red-tail has been hanging out on the utility poles here. It's got a very pale head, with brown being limited to the auriculars, malar area, and the back of the crown and nape. The belly only has a couple, barely visible, light tan stripes. The tail is completely red, with no black band. A neat bird on the pale extreme.

Late Winter Doldrums

Well it's been quite a while since I posted, primarily because it's been quite a while since I found a new species. The last several weekends have been filled with several birding trips around CO, a trip to SD to unsuccessfully chase the Ivory Gull in Pierre, and a 6-day trip to CA. Today I finally added a new species to my BGBY list, a cooperative AMERICAN DIPPER (#80) in Boulder Creek underneath the Foothills Parkway. Ted Floyd reported this bird at this spot on March 3, and apparently it hasn't moved since :-)

Greenlee Preserve and Valmont 2-3-08

With a slew of rare birds around the Boulder area, I headed out in search of rare gulls and sparrows this afternoon. I went out to the Greenlee Preserve in Lafayette. This is a small open space in the midst of houseing developments. There are two small bodies of water and some riparian habitat. A Swamp Sparrow has been hanging out here for quite a while. I arrived at the preserve and soon ran into an active flock of feeder birds. A quick go through didn't produce any odd sparrows. But as soon as I got to the edge of Greenlee Reservoir where Walter Szeliga had the bird in the morning, I heard the SWAMP SPARROW out in the cattails. It called quite a few times and I finally spotted it sitting in a small shrub out in the marsh. Walter also had a White-throated Sparrow here this morning, so I started to beat the bushes. I worked my way slowly down towards Waneka Reservoir. In the brush beside the trail I had a male SPOTTED TOWHEE (#75) scratching about. Out in Waneka, there was a pair of female/imm GREATER SCAUP snoozing with a bunch of Common Mergs and Ring-necked Ducks. As I was headed back towards my bike, I spotted three groups of Bohemian Waxwings flying up from the neighborhood off of Salina St. There were about 120 birds total. Back near where I parked my bike there were a few bird feeders that had lots of activity. The Swamp Sparrow made another appearance here undernieth the feeders on my way out. I found the flock of Bohemians out near a big brown water tank near the corner of Gold Hill Dr and Baseline.
The next stop was at Legion Park overlooking the Valmont Reservoir complex. A whole bunch of rare gulls were found here on Saturday and this morning. When I got up there, several birders were already looking through the quickly growing gull flocks out on the ice on Valmont. Soon, Norm spotted the adult GLAUCOUS GULL. Soon thereafter, we both got on an adult LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL preening vigorously. More and more birds where streaming in. Norm spotted a group of 1st year gulls way out. There was a 1st winter Herring Gull, a dark 1st winter Kumlien's ICELAND GULL and a 1st winter Thayer's. The Kumlien's was very dark, but paler overall than the Theyer's, with primaries that were the same shade as the body. I later saw this bird flying and it had a paler tail and secondaries than a Thayer's. While watching these young birds, a 1st winter Glaucous flew through my field of view. I couldn't stay on it, but it later showed up in one of the flocks standing off by itself, giving good looks. Later on I picked up another adult Lesser Black-backed. No sign of the reported Great Black-backed.
Total: 79