Rich Stevens' Bird Trips
June 2005
Pine Valley Ranch Park 6/30
Pam Shaw, Bruce Dennings, and I made a quick trip up to
Pine Valley Ranch Park (Jefferson County) before they had
to catch a plane back home.
We found a male American Three-toed Woodpecker about 300 yards
south (uphill) from Pine Lake and about 100 yards east of the
Buck Gulch Trail. Managed to also find three nuthatches, a Brown
Creeper, and Cordilleran Flycatcher. Missed out on any bluebirds.
Male Black-chinned Hummingbird was at Cherry Creek Reservoir,
Arapahoe County. Burrowing Owls along DIA Owl Loop (Adams).
Almost forgot to mention a brief stop at Wilson Snow's place in Bailey.
His 20+ hummingbird feeders had at least 5 Rufous Hummingbirds.
There were many Broad-tailed and 1 male Calliope.
No unusual hummers yet this year. He has has visits from both
a Magnificent and Blue-throated Hummingbirds over the years.
Another highlight and the reason of our visit. He found a
Nashville Warbler on Wednesday and relocated it for us today.
Pawnee National Grasslands 6/26
Just to let birders know, four of us searched several hours on
Sunday for the Smith’s Longspur reported near Pawnee National
Grasslands; without success.
We did find several Mountain Plovers along CR 96.
McCown's Longspurs were rather easy to find.
Chatfield Reservoir 6/19
This afternoon Bryan Ehlmann & I birded Chatfield Reservoir
(Jefferson/Douglas Counties). The hike to the loon pond was quite
a bushwhack. Kellner's loon was behind the island in the very
southwest corner of the 2nd pond south of Kingfisher Bridge.
Seeing it required hiking all the way down to the southern end
as the loon stayed between the island and west shore.
I would suggest to those wanting to see it, to take the trail
along the east side of the Platte River to the first pond.
Once here, instead of hiking along this pond, take the path
uphill to the east until reaching the fence line. Then hike south
until the path drops downhill at the middle of the second pond.
Then continue south along the dirt road to the southern end of the
pond. Looking back north from here, gave us a clear view between
the island and shore. This hike may add about 600 yards to the
trek, but one stays out of the weeds, stickers and bushes with
thorns. The total hike must be 1.5 miles one way.
The first part of the hike to the first pond was pleasant.
We found many Yellow Warblers, Yellow-breasted Chats, a Least
Flycatcher, male Black-headed Grosbeak, and Warbling Vireos.
A highlight was a male Blue-gray Gnatcatcher feeding a female
sitting on a nest. We found on the trip back, a Plumbeous Vireo
just south of the Kingfisher Bridge.
We went back for a second look towards dark. Bryan in an
attempt to get closer to the loon waded through the water along
the western side of the first pond. He did not make it all the way
to the second pond as daylight ran out, however did hear a
Yellow-billed Cuckoo in the tall trees between the two ponds.
An added bonus was a Green Heron along the west shore of
the small pond just east of the "Loon pond".
June Owl Counts
Inserted by Gary Weston:
"Hello all,
Between May 29 and June 4 and again June 6 to June 18 eight+
cobirders conducted owl counts west of the Continental Divide.
Sixty new RMORC transects were established for future bird counts.
Counters at various times included Bryan Ehlmann, Richard Stevens,
Steve Owdom, Randy Cross, Dan Christman, Gary Zeeto, Steve
Spencer, Rebecca Kosten, Sue Ehlmann, one other counter, and me.
Thanks to all for their participation!
Owl totals vary partially due to access to private lands.
Throughout the summer we are continuing the counts. Steve Owdom,
Randy Cross, and Dan Christman are counting all summer.
I do not know how to put the owl counts in an email without an
attachment. Since we do not want attachments going out to the
group, anyone wanting a copy should email me privately.
The table was embedded on Richard Stevens' Trip reports
accessed on the CoBus website.
Besides the owl counts, the various transects were counted during
the day. As you can imagine, it was an exhausting but rewarding task.
Highlights include:
A Bendire's Thrasher was heard and seen one morning.
It was not found the next day. We could not find any
evidence of nesting as was photographed last year.
Gray Vireos in the Colorado National Monument, Mesa County.
Several of us missed in the search for the Black-chinned Sparrow
reported on 5/24.
Two White-winged Crossbills on BLM land in Jackson County.
They were off FR 80 a few miles from Wyoming. Two additional
White-winged Crossbills were found off Fremont 550 north of
Hahn's Peak in Routt County.
Scott's Orioles are nesting on Brewster's Ridge reached by way
of Baxter's Pass Road.
Thanks to several western slope birders, Long-billed Curlews were
found possibly nesting in several locations.
Grace's Warblers were somewhat easy to find on the Uncompahgre Plateau.
Of course all of us enjoyed every owl found.
Our Grand Total was 327 owls!
Anyone wanting to conduct a count can email me privately.
Anyone conducting a count for another organization and wanting
to include their count in ours, please email me.
Good birding!"
|
Jackson |
Routt |
Moffat |
Rio Blanco |
Garfield |
Mesa |
Delta |
Montrose |
Ouray |
Total Species |
| Barn Owl |
3 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
10 |
| Flammulated Owl |
2 |
3 |
0 |
2 |
5 |
21 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
34 |
| Eastern Screech-Owl |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Western Screech-Owl |
2 |
1 |
5 |
3 |
6 |
9 |
4 |
4 |
0 |
34 |
| Great Horned Owl |
15 |
7 |
11 |
7 |
9 |
19 |
7 |
15 |
2 |
92 |
| Snowy Owl |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Northern Pygmy-Owl |
2 |
5 |
3 |
7 |
3 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
29 |
| Burrowing Owl |
2 |
0 |
2 |
7 |
2 |
11 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
26 |
| Spotted Owl |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Long-eared Owl |
1 |
2 |
2 |
4 |
2 |
6 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
18 |
| Short-eared Owl |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
| Boreal Owl |
7 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
5 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
15 |
| Northern Saw-whet Owl |
13 |
5 |
5 |
7 |
8 |
17 |
3 |
3 |
4 |
65 |
| Total County |
48 |
24 |
31 |
37 |
35 |
97 |
20 |
27 |
8 |
|
|
Grand Total 327 |
|
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Boulder County 6/5
Today I ventured up to Boulder County. What a fantastic day,
weather-wise and bird-wise!
The Least Bittern came out of the cattails for several of us while
we were standing near the western end of the boardwalk of
Cottonwood Marsh (at least I believe that is the name of
the first pond west of the main parking area for Walden Ponds).
Yellow-headed Blackbirds, a Sora, a Virginia Rail, and many
common birds flew/walked about during our watch. I have at
least two witness shots of the bittern. If they are of better
quality, I will post them on the CoBus website before leaving
town late tomorrow (we head down to the San Luis Valley).
I spent the next 2.5 hours searching for the Little Blue Heron.
A circled every pond at Walden and Sawhill; without success.
I did find a Green Heron located at the second pond west of
the first pond south of the location of the Least Bittern.
A surprise bird was a male Blackburnian Warbler. The only way
to describe where I found him is that I was hiking the road/trail
that goes along the north side of the Sawhill Ponds. If you
continue you will come to an old cement shed/building between two
ponds. The Blackburnian Warbler was at the northeast corner of
the northern pond. I back tracked from the cement building and
hiked north along the path (on east side of northern pond, if that
makes sense).
My next stop was 0.8 miles north to Heatherwood Area (off 75th
avenue). An hour walk around the neighborhood did not find
the previously reported Baltimore Oriole. Several Broad-tailed
Hummingbirds zipped by!
At least three male Bobolinks flew up from the tall distant
grasses at the Bobolink Meadow off Baseline Road (a few tenths
miles west of Cherryvale Road).
After an early and quick dinner, I went over to Gregory Canyon.
There were many nice birds around, but the previously reported
Ovenbird and Golden-winged Warbler were not among them.
Broad-tailed Hummingbirds, Virginia's Warbler, Gray Catbird,
Black-headed Grosbeak, MacGillivray's Warbler….to name a few.
After dark I went owling up Flagstaff Mountain Road to Gross
Reservoir and then south to Golden. A couple of Common Poorwills
were found (observed), but no owls tonight.
More Bird Trips
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