Rich Stevens' Bird Trips
July 2005
Around Arapahoe & Adams County 7/31
Again while doing chores I drove through Cherry Creek Reservoir
(Arapahoe County) and the DIA Owl Loop (Adams County).
Not much moving around in Cherry Creek State Park.
Western Kingbirds continue to hawk insects. A few
American White Pelicans stood on the southeast sandbar.
About a dozen sandpipers there included 2 Western
and some Baird's Sandpipers.
A few Brewer's Blackbirds hang around the bushes they
nested in (at corner of southwest marina parking area).
I watched a few Burrowing Owls go after grasshoppers
at 3.4 miles East of Tower Road & 96th avenue.
DIA Owl Loop 7/30
While doing chores I drove the DIA Owl Loop.
No Lark Buntings found in a month or so.
Burrowing Owls:
7 at 3.4 miles East of Tower Road & 96th avenue
2 at Powhaton Road & 128th avenue
Mountain Bird Trip 7/28 & 7/29
Inserted Terry Michaels report of a mountain bird trip:
"Got to go to bed, but I want to write a short note about our
birding the past two days. Four of us birded Rocky Mountain
National Park and the Colorado State Forest. Thanks much to
Richard Stevens for showing us some of his favorite birding places.
Doesn't?t that guy ever sleep? He didn't?t the last two nights.
Thursday morning we started by searching for Boreal Owls at the
old ski lift in Rocky Mountain National Park. We did not find any
and boy was the climb steep. At sunrise we walked the Medicine
Bow Curve path. Here we found two White tailed Ptarmigan.
Clark's Nutcrackers were all over Rainbow Curve.
Mountain Bluebirds were at Rock Cut.
Endovalley Picnic Area was very birdy. Red-naped Sapsucker Hairy
Woodpecker Downy Woodpecker NO Three toed Woodpecker Green-tailed
Towhee Rufous Hummingbird Calliope Hummingbird Broad-tailed
Hummingbird Chipping Sparrow American Dipper
More hummingbirds were found in town. Band-tailed Pigeons in
the neighborhood off Fish Creek Road.
After lunch we hiked the Cow Creek trail. A male Williamson's
Sapsucker was north of the cabins. House Wren Cordilleran
Flycatcher Warbling Vireo Olive-sided Flycatcher
We searched the Alluvial Fan area for Black Swifts, but did not
find any. Then returned to Cow Creek and missed Northern Pygmy
Owls again. Many Common Poorwills were heard and we even saw one.
Friday we searched for Barrow's Goldeneyes at Grand Lake and
Shadow Mountain Lake but didn't?t find any. We did find Cassin's
Finches, Band-tailed Pigeons, and Pine Grosbeaks.
We stopped several times while driving up CO 125 toward Walden.
At one stop a Three toed Woodpecker was heard drumming. Once out
of the forest, we saw Sage Thrashers along the highway.
A Rough-legged Hawk was a surprise. It must have stayed all summer?
We could not find the Caspian Terns reported several weeks ago at
Lake John State Wildlife Area. We got a brief look at a Greater
Sage Grouse running across the road going west from Delaney Buttes
Lake State Wildlife Area. I believe it was 20 road along the
south side of the hill.
The store at Gould has several hummingbird feeders. Dozens of
Rufous, Broad-tailed, and one Calliope Hummingbird were here.
The KOA campground store at the entrance to the Colorado State
Forest has many feeders and hundreds of hummingbirds. At least
2 Calliope Hummingbirds were included.
Our real search then started near dusk. We hiked into the
Colorado Forest from the end of Michigan Creek Road. At about 1.4
miles we found a Boreal Owl near the nesting box located along the
side of the road. I guess Richard has driven in here in the past
and knows distance. It was dark and I could not see any landmarks.
We found our second Boreal Owl up Ruby Jewel Road.
Then Richard and Steve hiked what they called the Michigan
Ditch Road which starts from the top of Cameron Pass.
They heard a third Boreal Owl at 2.1 miles from CO 14.
John and I were sleeping at the campgrounds below the pass.
They woke us up and we drove up Pennock Pass in Larimer County.
Here Richard found 5 Flammulated Owls for us! The best location
is 1.2 miles west of the summit. But good luck finding the summit
as it is marked by an obscure fence. Richard did take GPS readings."
Rocky Mountain National Park 7/28
Terry Michaels, Steve Spencer, John Tiernan and I decided to
escape the heat and headed up to Rocky Mountain National Park.
Early in the morning we hiked the trail at Medicine Bow Curve
north to the edge of the cliff. No Rosy Finches were found,
however we did find 2 White-tailed Ptarmigan. The Ptarmigan
were found on the trip back at about 500 yards north of the
pullover and 40 yards below the trail.
No additional Ptarmigan could be located at Lava Cliffs or Rock
Cut (Tundra Communication Trail). A couple of Mountain Bluebirds
flew around at the Lava Cliffs.
Endovalley Picnic Area added Broad-tailed Hummingbirds,
a Rufous Hummingbird, Calliope Hummingbird, Red-naped Sapsucker,
Hairy Woodpecker, Downy Woodpecker, Green-tailed Towhee, and
2 Red Crossbills to list. Unfortunately we did not find any
Three-toed Woodpeckers.
Also we missed Black Swifts at the Alluvial Fan area.
Near dusk we hike the Cow Creek Trail about a mile to where it
crosses the creek. No Northern Pygmy-Owls were heard tonight.
We did hear several Common Poorwills. Another bonus was a male
Williamson's Sapsucker north of the cabin area. House Wrens, an
Olive-sided Flycatcher, and Warbling Vireo were also observed.
Barr Lake 7/27
I am over my summer cold enough today to hike the 9.0 miles around
Barr Lake (Adams County). For the most part, it was an uneventful
day; however it was nice to get out in the heat and fresh air.
There were quite a few shorebirds as the water level has gone down
from a month ago. The highlight was a Pectoral Sandpiper at the
most northwestern corner. Western, Baird's, and Spotted Sandpipers
were also observed. Two Cattle Egrets were along the eastern side.
Gulls included Ring-billed, California, Franklin's, and
2 Bonaparte's Gulls.
Warblers included Common Yellowthroat, Yellow-rumped Warblers, Yellow
and one Orange-crowned Warbler. I thought the recent storms may have
brought in a few uncommon birds; that did not seem to be the case.
Bullock's Orioles and many House Wrens are still around as are
the Bald Eagle fledglings. Western Wood-pewees, Spotted Towhees,
a Green-tailed Towhee, one Empidonax Species, several Warbling
Vireos and were also found.
Burrowing Owls were observed at 3.4 miles East of Tower Road
and 96th avenue. A pair of Great-tailed Grackles were found
at a farm along Harvest.
Arapahoe County 7/23
I biked the 7.8 miles around Aurora Reservoir this morning.
It was a cool 94 degrees at noon. That beats the 100+
temperatures of the last few days (day is not over though).
A small group of shorebirds at mile marker 2.5 included one
Willet, Baird's Sandpipers, Western Sandpipers, 1 Least Sandpiper,
and 2 Semipalmated Sandpipers. Not much else was around as
the only sparrows found were 1 Song Sparrow. Gulls seemed to be
mostly Ring-billed with 2 California Gulls amongst a flock of 50+.
Cherry Creek Reservoir was slow also. Did not find the
Black-chinned Hummingbird which was last reported 7/4.
Many mosquitoes, few birds.
Burrowing Owls are easy to see at 3.4 miles East of Tower
Road & 96th avenue.
DIA Owl Loop
I drove the DIA Owl loop while doing chores today.
Burrowing Owls included 9 at 3.4 miles East of
Tower Road & 96th Avenue and 3 at Powhaton Road
and 128th avenue.
Birding Around Denver 7/15
This morning Rebecca Kosten and I hiked the east side of
Rocky Mountain Arsenal before it was hot. Our trek went
along Buckley Road between 56th avenue and 88th avenue.
The Burrowing Owl count was 19. The only uncommon bird was
1 Grasshopper Sparrow (about 0.2 miles north of the Eagle
Watch Bunker, which is not closed by the way).
A drive along the DIA Owl Loop found additional Burrowing Owls,
9 at 3.4 miles east of Tower Road & 96th avenue, 2 at
Powhaton Road & 128th avenue.
This evening I went to check on the Lesser Nighthawk report at
the pond on the southwest corner of Mt. Olivet Cemetery.
General consensus is that the 24+ Common Nighthawks were
the birds observed yesterday evening.
I also checked the lakes at Wheat Ridge Greenbelt, Coors Pond,
the eastern pond at Mt Olivet Cemetery (3 Common Nighthawks),
and several other ponds. No other nighthawks were located.
After dark, I checked on owls at Golden Gate State Park;
without finding any.
Chatfield Reservoir 7/3
This morning Rebecca Kosten and I returned to Chatfield
Reservoir (Jefferson/Douglas Counties) to search for the
Yellow-billed Cuckoo found two weeks ago by Bryan Ehlmann.
The weather was quite variable with sunshine, rain, high winds
between 7:00am and noon. We hiked the east side of the South
Platte River from Kingfisher Bridge to the second pond south
(about 1.2 miles). We wore old shoes so to hike through the
stream north of the 1st pond. This shorten the trip by 0.5 miles
or so (instead of circling way around the east side of both ponds).
Rebecca counted 39 Yellow-breasted Chats on the hike south and
34 on the return trip (fairly consistent). North of the first pond,
we also found 2 pairs of Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, Yellow Warblers,
Common Yellowthroats (male & female), many House Wrens, Gray
Catbirds, Spotted Towhees, and several Western Wood-pewees.
The highlight of the southern hike was an Olive-sided Flycatcher
singing (quick three beers, quick three beers, quick three beers)
in the woods just north of the first pond. On the return trip we
found 2 male Pine Grosbeaks in the same area. Perhaps the
recent fire in Waterton Canyon (just west) forced some of
the species down from the foothills?
When we reached the northern end of the 2nd pond (first trees
after the clearing between the ponds) we stopped to watch a male
American Redstart. The warbler flew west across the Platte.
While watching it, a Yellow-billed Cuckoo flew from the tall
cottonwood (first south of the clearing) and to the south.
We later relocated the bird 50 yards further south.
Our trek continued down the path. Just after where the path
almost comes next to the Platte River there are two grayish
dead cottonwoods. We turned east here and headed to the pond.
This brought us even with the southern island in the pond.
The Pacific Loon was as two weeks ago just off shore from here.
I took a couple of witness photographs, but before the loon swam
close enough, two hikers walked by and scared the loon into the
center of the pond.
On the trip back to the car, we came upon a Cooper's Hawk chasing
a Northern Flicker.
The reservoir itself was filled with many boats and few birds.
No shorebirds were along the Plum Creek Delta area.
Cherry Creek Reservoir 7/2
We drove through Cherry Creek Reservoir while doing chores.
Still no Green Herons found at the Cottonwood Wetlands.
There are many mosquitoes however!
The male Black-chinned Hummingbird was back southeast of
the ranger's office.
American White Pelicans and many Ring-billed Gulls
stood on the eastern sandbar.
Castlewood Canyon Road & Park 7/1
I made two trips to Castlewood Canyon State Park Friday.
In the morning, Rebecca Kosten and I arrived about an hour before
sunrise. We briefly got a response from a Northern Saw-whet Owl,
however did not see the bird. The owl was halfway between the
West side Trailhead and the Falls overlook.
We hoped to find the Northern Cardinal reported several weeks ago.
There was no sign of it or the Red-eyed Vireos reported.
An Ovenbird was nice enough to sing at sunrise. The warbler
was along Cherry Creek and between the West side Trailhead
and Homestead Park area to the north.
Other birds observed included Western Scrub-Jays, Spotted Towhees,
Chipping Sparrows, MacGillivray's Warblers, Yellow Warblers, and
Song Sparrows.
At the Winkler Ranch (along Castlewood Canyon Road, 1.5 miles
south of the southern entrance to the park), we found 3 male Bobolinks.
We stopped briefly at Cherry Creek Reservoir. The male Black-chinned
Hummingbird was northwest of the ranger's office around 12:30pm.
After a late lunch, Steve Spencer, Gary Weston, and I returned to
Castlewood Road. When we stopped about 250 yards south of the
Winkler Ranch entrance, a Dickcissel was heard singing. Thanks to
Norm Lewis for pointing us in the correct direction! The bird was
eventually observed in the dead bush along the creek and about 50
yards east of the road.
It was 5:30pm and the air was full of songs. A Sage Thrasher sang
from the fence to the west. Uphill from there, a Green-tailed
Towhee, Cordilleran Flycatcher, and male Black-headed Grosbeak
also joined in. Yellow Warblers were in the taller trees along
the creek. Two male Bobolinks sang from the tall grasses just
below the hill about 100 yards to the east.
Fourteen Turkey Vultures flew overhead. Many of the bluebird
boxes were being used by Violet-green Swallows and Tree Swallows.
A Wild Turkey was along Castlewood Canyon Road (where it runs east
to west, about 0.8 miles from the park). Mountain Bluebirds were
everywhere (we counted over 48). Two Western Bluebirds were at
the road as it turns north toward the park. A juvenile Red-tailed
Hawk screeched for its parents from the tall rock cliffs to the west.
We stopped at the West side Trailhead for about 20 minutes and
listened to the many songs. A Plumbeous Vireo called from west of
the road. Spotted Towhees were many as were Western Scrub-Jays.
A pair of Blue-gray Gnatcatchers fluttered about the bushes north
of the restrooms. Another Wild Turkey walked along the west side
of the road.
The Homestead parking area was also filled with bird songs.
Here we heard mostly Spotted Towhees, American Goldfinches, and
House Finches. Another pair of Western Bluebirds hawked insects
near the northern entrance. We could not hear any owls in the
small subdivision to the northwest of the park.
We returned to the old Falls parking area (which is no longer
a parking area, but a walkway and path). We could not get a
response from the Northern Saw-whet Owl heard early this morning.
More Bird Trips
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