Denver Field Ornithologists
March 2013 Field Trips
Saturday, March 30 Denver City Park-Cormorant Photo
Trip Leader: Chuck Hundertmark, 303-604-0531
0730. Meet leader at parking strip at Duck Lake. From Colorado Blvd., turn west onto 22nd Ave. and go past the Museum of Nature and Science. Turn left just before the zoo at the sign to the Pavillion Bandstand. Park on the left at the parking area closest to Duck Lake. We'll photograph and observe early nesting behavior of Double-crested Cormorants at Duck Lake for about an hour. For SLRs, a 300mm lens or better is recommended. We'll also walk the park for migrants and early nesters. An easy morning walking. Late morning, we'll head to the museum for lunch. Bring laptops to download photos and compare shots. Bring water, snacks, binoculars, camera with optional tripod and scopes. Half day trip plus lunch at the museum. Limit of 10 participants. Call or email leader if you plan to attend. chundertmark8@gmail.com.
Sunday, March 31th Ptarmigan Finding -- Guanella Pass
Leader, Paul Slingsby This trip is limited to 8 persons so please register with the leader (303-422-3728). Meet the leader, 0900 at the Stegosaurus Park and Ride. We will car pool to Guanella Pass, approximately 60 miles from our meeting place. Have clothing suitable for both windy and very cold weather, the pass is almost 12,000 ft. in altitude and is especially exposed to wind. Our trip begins late to arrive at the pass during the warmest part of the day. We'll also hope to avoid rush hour on I-70. Bring binoculars, spotting scopes and 2-way radios if you have them. Plan to eat lunch at the pass, possibly in the car. We should be back to Stegosaurus by 3 pm. We will also look for other bird species that spend winter high in the mountains. Guanella Pass has not had great amounts of snow in recent years and many areas blow free of snow. Bring snowshoes if you have them, but most likely we will be able to walk everywhere we need to walk without them. Traction devices for shoes (Yaktracks for example) and walking sticks can be helpful. We will walk less than a mile at the pass, but plan to walk more at other places we will visit for additional mountain bird species. I will scout the trip before the day and will also check the weather. In the event that weather is prohibitive, we will change our destination to Bear Creek Lake Park. (Day pass required.) Ducks, cormorants, avocets and bluebirds will have begun migration by this date. Water should be open in the ponds and in Clear Creek so we should have an interesting day even if we can't visit the ptarmigan. Stegosaurus Park and Ride is familiar to visitors to the RMBO spring Hawkwatch. Take I-70 to exit 259, go south on Colorado Highway 26 for about 200 yards. Stegosaurus is on the left. We will meet near the lower, south, end of the lot.
Schedule prepared by Chris Owens
Submitted by Chris A. Blakeslee - DFO Board Member
Centennial, Colorado
CorvidColo@aol.com
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