All,
Today's fieldwork took me to a few of the campgrounds along 67 North of Woodland Park and CR 31 in Park County. What started as a pretty standard day in the field ended up being one of the most memorable I've had so far this winter. Here are some of the highlights:
Douglas County:
During my first point count this morning I heard a Song Sparrow calling from a cluster of willows in a riparian area along S Rainbow Falls Rd. This is only the second individual of this species that I've had in the area so far this year, the first being found only 2 days ago along FS 339 (Teller CO). A few days ago I had a stunning adult Northern Goshawk on one of the many two tracks off of Rainbow Falls Rd.
Teller County:
Type 2 Red Crossbills were everywhere at the Painted Rocks CG, which has generally been a very good place to find them. As I was heading south along 67, just a couple miles north of Woodland Park, a large flock of Pinyon Jays flew overhead, the first I've seen in this area. On my way back from Park County, I took a detour down 67 South and had a flock of ~50 rosy-finches fly over the road and into a grassy field on Cantiberry Rd. Scanning through them revealed mostly Gray-crowned (including a few Hepburn's) and a handful of Brown-capped.
Park County:
CR 31 was simply spectacular. I had fantastic numbers of both type 2 and type 5 crossbills. After my point counts, I hiked around the area looking for mated pairs of crossbills and heard a Northern Pygmy-Owl singing far in the distance. This being the species I most wanted to find this field season, I ran after it through deep snow, eventually finding the bird (still singing) getting mobbed by Pygmy Nuthatches, Mountain Chickadees, Red-breasted Nuthatches, White-breasted Nuthatches, and TONS of crossbills. Indeed, before even finding the owl, I found my 30th mated pair of crossbills of the year (a type 2 pair) giving 'toop' calls in response to the owl's presence. I also had my first type 4 crossbills of the season (2 females, 1 male) join in on the mobbing. I must have watched the owl fly from tree to tree, singing intermittently, for over an hour -- definitely one of the coolest life bird experiences I've ever had. After leaving the owl, I had 2 Golden Eagles (an adult and a juvenile) soaring together for the rest of my stay. Other fun birds here included a Merlin, 2 Clark's Nutcrackers (they seem to have all but disappeared from the Woodland Park area, where they were abundant in January and early February), and 4 American Tree Sparrows.
A couple of random notes: yesterday on CR 300 in Teller, I had two Steller's Jays and a Dark-eyed Junco in Lodgepole, the first time this winter I've had either species away from Ponderosa in this area. Brown Creepers really started becoming abundant (and singing) in Lodgepole on this road a couple weeks ago.
Good birding,
-Cody Porter
(Currently in Woodland Park, CO -- originally from Laramie, WY)
-- Today's fieldwork took me to a few of the campgrounds along 67 North of Woodland Park and CR 31 in Park County. What started as a pretty standard day in the field ended up being one of the most memorable I've had so far this winter. Here are some of the highlights:
Douglas County:
During my first point count this morning I heard a Song Sparrow calling from a cluster of willows in a riparian area along S Rainbow Falls Rd. This is only the second individual of this species that I've had in the area so far this year, the first being found only 2 days ago along FS 339 (Teller CO). A few days ago I had a stunning adult Northern Goshawk on one of the many two tracks off of Rainbow Falls Rd.
Teller County:
Type 2 Red Crossbills were everywhere at the Painted Rocks CG, which has generally been a very good place to find them. As I was heading south along 67, just a couple miles north of Woodland Park, a large flock of Pinyon Jays flew overhead, the first I've seen in this area. On my way back from Park County, I took a detour down 67 South and had a flock of ~50 rosy-finches fly over the road and into a grassy field on Cantiberry Rd. Scanning through them revealed mostly Gray-crowned (including a few Hepburn's) and a handful of Brown-capped.
Park County:
CR 31 was simply spectacular. I had fantastic numbers of both type 2 and type 5 crossbills. After my point counts, I hiked around the area looking for mated pairs of crossbills and heard a Northern Pygmy-Owl singing far in the distance. This being the species I most wanted to find this field season, I ran after it through deep snow, eventually finding the bird (still singing) getting mobbed by Pygmy Nuthatches, Mountain Chickadees, Red-breasted Nuthatches, White-breasted Nuthatches, and TONS of crossbills. Indeed, before even finding the owl, I found my 30th mated pair of crossbills of the year (a type 2 pair) giving 'toop' calls in response to the owl's presence. I also had my first type 4 crossbills of the season (2 females, 1 male) join in on the mobbing. I must have watched the owl fly from tree to tree, singing intermittently, for over an hour -- definitely one of the coolest life bird experiences I've ever had. After leaving the owl, I had 2 Golden Eagles (an adult and a juvenile) soaring together for the rest of my stay. Other fun birds here included a Merlin, 2 Clark's Nutcrackers (they seem to have all but disappeared from the Woodland Park area, where they were abundant in January and early February), and 4 American Tree Sparrows.
A couple of random notes: yesterday on CR 300 in Teller, I had two Steller's Jays and a Dark-eyed Junco in Lodgepole, the first time this winter I've had either species away from Ponderosa in this area. Brown Creepers really started becoming abundant (and singing) in Lodgepole on this road a couple weeks ago.
Good birding,
-Cody Porter
(Currently in Woodland Park, CO -- originally from Laramie, WY)
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