Hi all
Al Levantin and I headed out to Paonia, Hotchkiss and Delta today as Al is unable to make the Hotchkiss CBC on Saturday.
The day started out at -17F as we approached Paonia, and never got close to freezing. Indeed, by 4.45pm the thermometer had already dropped back to just 9F as we passed Payne Siding enroute from Delta back home.
Highlights included Ferruginous hawk, Horned Larks and many Tree Sparrows in the Hotchkiss count circle, and Snow Geese, Ross’s Geese and three adult Greater White-fronted Geese at Confluence Park, Delta (but no Cackling Geese). The lake is about 95% frozen, with ice thick enough for some foolish teenagers to discover that it did support their weight in the places that they walked on it.. We advised them to heed the signs and value their own lives. The wintering Sandhill flock at Delta seems in good shape and we saw several hundred birds at dusk. A single Yellow-rumped Warbler ate Russian Olive berries by the Uncompahgre River.
Yesterday (apologies for late post) I gave the first of my free bird tours at Snowmass Ski area (Pitkin). The main highlight was 40 Brown-capped and 10 Gray-crowned Rosy Finches. Next tour is next Wednesday. Email me if you are interested. Note: the tour is free, but a lift ticket is required – either for a foot passenger or for ski/snowboard. Recently I have seen a Northern Pygmy Owl along the Frying Pan river near Basalt (Eagle Cty), and up to 35 Barrow’s Goldeneyes at Coryell Ranch Pond (Garfield Cty).
The Aspen CBC tallied 45 species including 3 count week species. Three teams of birders on count day put in long hours and were rewarded with up to 7 Common Redpolls, plus Brown-capped and Gray-crowned Rosy-Finches in several locations, and at least 36 American Dippers. Incredibly, not a single Red-winged Blackbird was located, and numbers of many species were very low despite the effort. A big thank-you to ACES and Rebecca Weis for organising this CBC again.
Good birding all
Dick Filby
Carbondale
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