On September 5, 2026, the "Gilpin Gray Jays"—Pete Christiansen, Henry Stiles, and Jeff Percell—set out across Gilpin County for the CFO Birding Challenge. It was a great opportunity to target a relatively under-birded county, and a new birding county to the group, as prior to a scout trip 2 weeks ago, the 3 teammates had a combined 2 complete checklists logged in eBird, despite some of the team having spent some time hiking and bee surveying in Golden Gate Canyon State Park.
Over 14 hours in the field, the team logged 23 checklists and tallied 57 species across montane, riparian, and subalpine habitats, covering 61.4 miles by vehicle and more than 20,000 steps by foot.
The morning opened at 5:57 AM along Smith Hill Road, delivering an active pre-dawn chorus and early wave of 16 trip additions: Common Poorwill, Broad-tailed Hummingbird, Hairy Woodpecker, Northern Flicker, Steller’s Jay, American Crow, Black-capped and Mountain Chickadees, Golden-crowned Kinglet, White-breasted and Red-breasted Nuthatches, Brown Creeper, Northern House Wren, Western and Mountain Bluebirds, Townsend's Solitaire, American Robin, Pine Grosbeak, Chipping Sparrow, Dark-eyed Junco, Lincoln's Sparrow, and MacGillivray's and Yellow-rumped Warblers. A brief stop along the lower section added Wild Turkey at 8:06 AM.
Entering Golden Gate Canyon State Park, the team worked several areas:
Visitor Center area (8:08 AM): Added Gray Catbird, American Goldfinch, and Song Sparrow.
Kriley Pond (8:33 AM): Yielded waterbirds with Mallard and Double-crested Cormorant.
Mule Deer Trail (8:37 AM): Added Ruby-crowned Kinglet and Pygmy Nuthatch among high flocks of chickadees and nuthatches.
Working west along Golden Gate Canyon Road, roadside watches added Red-tailed Hawk (9:41 AM), Black-billed Magpie (9:54 AM), and Clark's Nutcracker (10:02 AM). A mid-morning scan from the car along SH-119 picked up Common Raven (10:17 AM).
At Los Lagos Reservoirs (10:34 AM), open water and raptor activity brought a cluster of additions: Turkey Vulture, Osprey, and Bald Eagle.
Turning up Tolland Road into higher country:
Willows and shrubs along the road (10:55 AM) delivered White-crowned Sparrow.
An 11:07 AM riparian pullout produced Belted Kingfisher.
Higher along Tolland Road (11:23 AM), an American Dipper worked the mountain stream.
Midday hiking from East Portal Trailhead (11:45 AM, 9,211 feet above sea level) produced a roving flock of Red Crossbills (documented as Type 2 via audio recording) alongside Wilson's Warbler. Continuing up to the Crater Lakes Trail Junction (1:21 PM–2:23 PM, 9,976 feet), higher-elevation conifer stands yielded American Three-toed Woodpecker and Cooper's Hawk, while open skies above provided a feeding group of Violet-green Swallows.
Dropping back down to Tolland Road (3:33 PM), a quick check of shrubby edges added Lesser Goldfinch.
The late afternoon moved through Gilpin's pocket lakes:
A quick check of an empty Manchester Lake added no new species.
Snowline Lake (4:06 PM): Produced a surprise Green-winged Teal amongst a group of 26 Mallard on the small lake (a 1x1 count that tripped the eBird high count filter), along with a foraging Great Blue Heron.
Thorn Lake (4:35 PM): Picked up American Kestrel, Townsend's Warbler, and the first Savannah Sparrow.
A quick turn through the Reverends Ridge Campground yielded many Labor Day Weekend campers, but unfortunately no camp robbers. A brief stop along SH-119 (5:11 PM) picked up House Finch and a flock of 15 Pine Siskins.
The team spent the golden hour at Knights of Pythias Cemetery (6:13 PM), finding a productive mixed flock with Lark Sparrow, a late push of 17 Yellow-rumped Warblers, and 30 Mountain Bluebirds staging on headstones and fence lines. Quick stops at Chase Gulch Reservoir and William C. Russell Park yielded no new species and quiet waters in fading light.
We detoured into Central City hoping to pick up easy urban staples, but struck out completely without a single Rock Pigeon or House Sparrow to be found, but did see a few bats.
The route closed where the day's water birding began, returning to Golden Gate Canyon State Park (Kriley Pond) at 7:40 PM near dark. We got a tip from a helpful park ranger as to where a Great Horned Owl was known to frequently be heard at a nearby overlook. Upon arrival we were surprised to see a Barn Swallow flying over the pond and then the Great Horned Owl came bombing right over our heads to get us to 57 species.
Apart from the non-native species and team-namesake Canada Jay, other birds that felt like misses included several species that were present on a half-day scout trip two weeks prior: Spotted Sandpiper, Calliope Hummingbird, Western Kingbird, Tree Swallow, Common Grackle, Northern Yellow Warbler and Lazuli Bunting. Other likely suspects that avoided us were Canada Goose, Killdeer, Downy Woodpecker, and Green-tailed Towhee.
The CFO Birding Challenge is truly the birding event of the year, and the team is already brainstorming possible counties to target in 2027.
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