Since moving to Centennial (Arapahoe County) in 2016, I've conducted a makeshift winter count in a portion of my local birding circle. The circle, with a radius of three miles, is roughly centered on deKoevend Park. Because it's squeezed between the perimeters of the two Denver CBCs, most of it goes uncounted during the formal counts. I focus on the northeastern portion, which covers much of the rather rich riparian corridor of the High Line Canal Trail in Centennial, Greenwood Village, and Cherry Hills Village. This includes Marjorie Perry Nature Preserve, Blackmer Lake, and Dahlia Hollow Park. The circle also includes two of my favorite "bad birding" hotspots: Chapel Hill Memorial Gardens and Holly Park. Various greenbelts and parks mark the area.
-- This year's count was particularly enjoyable, perhaps because I barely planned it and haven't birded much this year. I woke late, skipping AM owling, and bounced from spot to spot around Greenwood Village, waiting for the morning to warm. The day began with a flock of 40+ American Goldfinches feeding on seedy weeds at Monaco Open Space, a modest space of cattails, grasses, and weeds off Belleview Ave in Greenwood Village. I don't think I've seen a flock of more than a dozen goldfinches locally, so this was a nice surprise. So, too, was a rather ragged-looking coyote. I didn't know it at the time, but it was racing me to my next stop -- Westlands Park -- about a mile away. It won, only to find the park magpies there to hound it. Also at Westlands, amid the many Canada & Cackling geese, was a juvenile Greater White-fronted Goose.
From Westlands, I headed home (to let my dogs out), before stopping at Trader Joe's, for my only House Sparrows of the day. From there, I joined Geoff Stacks to bird the High Line Canal Trail between Dahlia Hollows Park and Blackmer Lake. We had a Say's Phoebe in the playing fields at the entrance of Kent Denver School. This was a first "count day" phoebe for me. Some rather striking, dark Red-tailed Hawks were all around Blackmer, as they seem to be every year. From there, a long stop at Marjorie Perry Nature Preserve yielded a few more birds for the day -- a Cooper's Hawk, a kestrel, a kingfisher -- but nothing unusual. Walking the High Line at dusk, I spotted a Great Horned Owl. Elsewhere, after the sunset, I whistled and a screech answered. The screech was species 39 for the day, which is about my average over the four years.
Other miscellaneous observations:
Lots of...robins, starlings, and Cedar Waxwings feeding on berries along the High Line Canal. Lots of crows, too, pouring over Marjorie Perry Nature Preserve before dusk. It was a wonder to watch hundreds of them stream by. Indeed, high counts for robins, starlings, crows, and those goldfinches.
Misses of...Townsend's Solitaire and Brown Creeper. The former is regular at Marjorie Perry, Chapel Hill Memorial Gardens, and a few sections of the High Line. But I don't think I was in the right places, right times for them. Brown Creepers is irregular enough around Centennial to be easy to miss. Though I'd had one the day before, along the High Line, I missed em yesterday. No kinglets, scrub-jays, or Pygmy Nuthatches. No Merlins. I'm still waiting for my first "count day" Northern Shrike. Someday.
Missed, too, on uncommon winter birds. Previous years have yielded a Harris's Sparrow, White-throated Sparrow, Hermit Thrush, and a rather late Lincoln's Sparrow. But nothing especially notable on yesterday's list.
New Birds...that Say's Phoebe and a flyover flock of Common Merganser, bringing my count day list to 59. This is a bit arbitrary of a list, though, as the day of my local count has varied widely over the past four years. Perhaps one day I'll standardize it...
- Jared Del Rosso
Centennial, CO
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