[cobirds] Gilpin and Clear Creek birding--Saturday May 4th

Roger Linfield’s mountain report of the other day got me interested in following up with a trip of my own to Gilpin and Clear Creek Counties on Saturday.  I have a couple of set routes that I follow when I go up to Gilpin County, this time I started at Los Lagos at the Boulder County line on CO 119 where there is a long standing Osprey nest that was occupied in spite of April’s bad weather.  Nearby Manchester Lake had no birds on it which was unexpected.  Next I drove west out of Rollinsville all the way to East Portal.  Snow lined the road and there wasn’t much to see, except for a pair of Dippers that must be nesting under the very last bridge over S. Boulder Creek before East Portal.  Snowline Lake was also bird-less in spite of being totally ice free, so things were slow so far. 

 

In the meadows across from the Last Shot (a bar on 119, but I think if Joe Roller can have Last Chance, I can have Last Shot!) there were some survivor Mt. Bluebirds and a few Brewer’s Blackbirds, and near the high school I had a single Red Crossbill and a few Cassin’s Finches.  Continuing south along 119, I like to take the Apex Valley Rd. and then come back into Central City on the Upper Apex Rd.  This route takes one past the large (for Gilpin County) water supply reservoir, Chase Gulch, which is very accessible (although our County Birding website notes this as for Gilpin County residents only).   While this reservoir is never “covered” with waterfowl, it did have 20 or so assorted ducks on it.  More exciting were four species of shorebirds—Wilson’s Phalarope, Willet, Spotted Sandpiper and Solitary Sandpiper (the first and last of which do not appear on the current county checklist), two grebes (Pied-billed and Eared), Double-crested Cormorant, Savannah and Vesper Sparrows and a pair of McCown’s Longspur—clearly a county record.

 

At that point, I decided to try to cross over the Central City Parkway to I-70 and try the Idaho Springs tunnels (which proved not to be an issue on this day).  I went on up to Empire where there was a lingering flock of Bohemian Waxwings trying to figure which way was out.  Georgetown was next and most noteworthy here were about 20 American Pipits around the edges of the lake along with a single Willet.

 

Bill Kaempfer

Boulder