I woke early today (10/29), in the CBC-spirit, scouting the edges of the two Denver-area circles for owls. I started in Cherry Hills Village, near the southwestern edge of the Denver urban circle. There, a pair of Great Horns greeted me; I'd later hear a third. But I was after screeches, hoping to find a few potential spots for them in the circles. So I called them as I walked. For a time, nothing. But one came out, flying low and close by me, before disappearing into a thicket.
From Cherry Hills Village, I headed to the eastern edge of the other Denver count area. I stopped by Fly'n B Park in Highlands Ranch (Douglas), where I heard and saw nothing. I then stopped by the High Line Canal near McClellan Reservoir (Arapahoe), where a pair of a Great Horns hooted in response to a not-distant-enough interloper, who called too. No screeches though.
I went home around sunrise, for food and tea. Around 8:30, I headed back out to Willow Spring Open Space in Centennial. I hoped for a shrike (nope), a Merlin (nope), other winter-y raptors (still no), sparrows (none but Song & juncos), or even a Pygmy Nuthatch in the small collections of pines and spruce around the open space's entrances (nope). A Western Scrub Jay was as close as I came to a consolation bird.
From Willow Spring, I headed to Holly Park, hoping still for that same mix of birds. None. The scold of two Blue Jays lead me to a Great Horned, my seventh of the morning and my first at Holly Park.
I had planned one more stop – Curtis Park in Greenwood Village. But I dawdled instead, driving the roads under the transmission towers in Centennial to look for raptors. Still none. I considered that I'd erred by birding the scrubby weed and grass fields of Willow Spring and Holly Park, rather than the local parks along the High Line. I considered, too, going home. The sunny day had outgrown my owling attire – a thermal, heavy pants, and thick socks.
But I stopped at Curtis Park anyway. Near the intersection of S. University Blvd and E. Orchard Rd in Greenwood Village, Curtis Park is a block by block-and-half of grass for baseball and soccer fields. On the weekends, it serves kid's soccer teams. It may serve the kids at the adjacent Aspen Academy during the week. It hardly seems worth birding, and I'd never actually birded it before.
Of course, I wasn't there for the grassy fields. The park is lined by pines and spruces, which form a border between the park and the surrounding private residences. There aren't great collections of conifers in the west Centennial area, not at least around me. So this is as good as it gets. The park, I figured, is my best bet for a Golden-crowned Kinglet in my local birding circle. And, I hoped, other montane birds might find this otherwise unremarkable park attractive. (After seeing Ben Sampson's eBird report of Red Crossbills in the area, I recently announced, to a friend in NY who also birds, that Red Crossbills are "in play" this winter.)
It was quiet when I arrived. A lone Pygmy Nuthatch flew out of the park. I heard, then followed Black-capped Chickadees to the northeast corner of the park, where high pitched calls drew my attention. I don't, off hand, know the difference between a Brown Creeper and Golden-crowned Kinglet call, so I started to stake the birds out.
But that didn't last long. A different flock, with an unfamiliar call, arrived at the northwest corner of the park. They held still for a moment, showing them to be red and yellow finches. Crossbills! They moved into a spruce, where a male picked at a cone in the crossbill style. Then they flew, noisily, into a private yard, before crossing the street, headed south. I counted 17, about the same number as visited Cheesman Park in Denver two Aprils ago on an equally sunny day.
After the Red Crossbills left, I headed back toward the northeast corner, to look for the birds making the high-pitched calls. I soon spotted the silhouette of the culprits, which were clearly not creepers (as they weren't creeping). I eventually got very good looks at two Golden-crowned Kinglets.
(I would have had photos of both. But over breakfast, I had my SD card in my laptop to watch videos of the Great Horns. After lugging my camera all over Centennial, I only discovered that I forgotten to put the SD card back in the camera when trying to photograph the crossbills.)
Both were county birds for me. And what gratifying encounters too, to meet them in this sort of way.
- Jared Del Rosso
Centennial, CO
PS: While writing this, I noticed two robins at my bird bath, staring up at the sky. I checked and a what appeared to be a Harlan's Red-tailed was soaring over us.
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