From: Bruce M. Bowman To: Gary & Lisa Bowman Subject: trip highlights Date: Thu, 15 Aug 1996 16:44:42 SELECTED HIGHLIGHTS OF THE COLORADO BIRDING TRIP (AUGUST 4-9, 1996) SWAINSON'S HAWK (Day 1) We hadn't been on the road away from the Value Rental Car lot at the airport for more than a minute when we came upon a Swainson's Hawk on a utility pole. This beautiful bird, like several other Swainson's Hawks we would see in days to follow, was undisturbed by our nearness and OUR intense gaze. The diagnostic dark brown, strongly demarcated upper breast was easy to see. While not mindful of the car and three birders within, these hawks always flew off when a camcorder was produced. COMMON NIGHTHAWK (Day 1) Driving about the back roads of the Pawnee National Grasslands we found a spot where several Common Nighthawks were snoozing in the sun, sitting on the wood rails of fences along side the road. One was within 12 feet or so of the car. These birds were apparently totally unaware of our presence and DID NOT fly away when the camcorder was produced. Further down the road at the headquarters for Grasslands administration we found many more nighthawks, all engaged in this bird's favorite daytime activity--sleeping. We could have stuck one in a backpack and brought it home with us. VIOLET-GREEN SWALLOW, STELLER'S JAY, BLACK-BILLED MAGPIE (Day 2) Day 2 introduced me to what would be three of the trip's trash birds, as they were seen on every following day. All were life birds for me, though, and I didn't tire of watching them. The Steller's Jay and the Black-billed Magpie are full of character, and the Violet-green Swallow-- a beautiful bird when the sunlight strikes it just right--was easy to identify by its white butt (actually, white on the rear flank that extends up to the rump) as they endlessly clear the air of gnats and other small insects. A Steller's Jay in Genesee Park on Day 6 did a quite credible imitation of a Red-tailed Hawk, but he couldn't fool the sharp ear of B. Bowman. RED CROSSBILL (Day 3) On the way from Estes Park to the entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park we stopped at the Indian Village Store to buy bottled water. We bought our water but had to pay not a nickel for a treefull of Red Crossbills, the bird that had eluded Lisa for years. A lifer for Lisa and Bruce, too. Bruce could hardly contain himself, but Lisa took it all matter of factly. Hmmm...or was it the other way around? AMERICAN DIPPER (Day 3) After striking out repeatedly on Day 2 in searches of swiftly running, rock-strewn mountain streams for the American Dipper, we finally found one on Day 3, maybe our last chance since we would soon be leaving the mountains for birding closer to Denver on days 4, 5, and 6. The American Dipper is a plump, starling-sized, all gray bird...that thinks it's a fish. Or a frog or a heron. The bird we saw, like all American Dippers, spent most of its time in the water. As the stream swept by, from its perch on a rock or a downed branch it would stick its head underwater to look for edible things carried by the stream. Sometimes it would dive right in. Other times it would snatch them from the surface, and once it tried to snatch insects out of the air, like a dog snapping at flies. WHITE-TAILED PTARMIGAN...NOT! (Day 3) The most strenuous day of the trip was probably Day 3. After a VERY good start, finding the Red Crossbills and the American Dipper, we set out to find the elusive White-tailed Ptarmigan. In winter this bird is essentially all white. In August, however, the bird is mostly a speckled brown. These birds have been described as chickenlike, but "rocklike" would be a good description, too. Or "tundralike." And guess where these birds are to be found (or not) in August? Why, on the rock-strewn tundra above the tree line in the mountains, of course. And do they move around so that your eye might catch a motion. No, they'd rather that you step on them. We braved the elements (30 degree temperatures, howling wind, and thin air at 11,000 feet altitude) to walk for two hours on the tundra on the mountain slopes along Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park. Our effort was in vain. The Rocklike Ptarmigan eluded us. AMERICAN PIPIT (Day 3) There were American Pipits everywhere in the cold, windy tundra. Why do these drab, sparrow-sized birds nest there? There have GOT to be better places than THIS to raise a family! LAZULI BUNTING, LESSER GOLDFINCH, LEWIS' WOODPECKER, and more (Day 4) Our first day after leaving the mountains was the most bountiful of the trip. We started out with a disappointment: following the directions in the ABA/Lane guide for Colorado, we turned onto Road 29 near Loveland, drove down the road to an abandoned building, stopped and walked back a short distance to find the plank that supposedly crossed the roadside stream. Walking across the plank we would then be able to bird along a path on the opposite side of the stream. However, sometime in the eight short years since the Lane guide was published, some dastardly person removed said plank! Having no way to cross to the birding trail, we decided to just stand around and let the birds come to us...and they did! Birds aplenty appeared, and they coaxed us down the road to areas not mentioned in the book. By the time we departed from the turnoff on Road 29, we had found 19 species of birds, and I had excellent looks at four colorful life birds: male and female Lazuli Buntings, Lesser Goldfinches, flashing the white on their wings whenever they flew, a beautiful red and greenish-black male Lewis' Woodpecker on a utility pole--the only Lewis' we would see on the trip--and a Spotted Towhee that talked a lot but showed himself only sparingly. CLARK'S GREBE (Day 4) Near Ft. Collins at a marsh pond at the Timnath Ski Club we found Western Grebes and one Clark's Grebe. There were young Westerns swimming around with their parents, and the Clark's was sitting on a nest in full view. That was a treat. Not even Gary and Lisa, the veteran birders, had seen this before, and the Clark's Grebe was a life bird for me. AN "ECLIPSE-PLUMAGE DUCK" (Day 4) At a marsh near the Timnath Ski Club we saw the first of many ducks that we were not able to identify on this trip. Besides doing the standard duck trick of usually staying on the other side of the lake, our Colorado ducks had donned their eclipse plumage, and they all looked pretty much alike. The duck in the marsh was up close, and we still could not identify it, although there was some thought that it might be a Cinnamon Teal. This duck was VERY dark (blackish brown) and small...but, in the end, it was just another Eclipse-plumage Duck. At this stop we heard the whinnying of a Sora but never glimpsed the bird. COMMON SNIPE (Day 4) Along the drive leading in to the Lagerman Reservoir near Swede Lakes (Boulder County) we found about five Common Snipes, which were probing the muck in a wet, reedy area. I saw no more than two different birds until they decided to fly off. Since snipes are invisible except for three seconds at the top of each hour on odd numbered days, I felt fortunate to see these birds. While I did see the birds, I never saw a reed move as the birds (supposedly) worked their way through them. I'm certain this is because snipes can move from point A to point B through a higher dimension when they want to. Soras can do this, too. It's something like the teleporters on Star Trek. Beam me up, Scotty! MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRD (Day 4) On the way from Boulder toward Nederland and Wondervu, where we hoped to find a Calliope Hummingbird, we missed a turn at Colorado 119 South and Colorado 72 East. We pulled off the road to turn around, and there, on a fencepost, sat the only Mountain Bluebird we would see on our six-day trip. Had we been a minute later or a minute earlier, or not missed our turn, we would probably not have gotten a Mountain Bluebird. CALLIOPE HUMMINGBIRD...NOPE, NOT YET (Day 4) We found upon arriving in the "town" of Wondervu that the Bear Creek Lodge, said by the Lane guide to have hummingbird feeders sometimes frequented by Calliope Hummingbirds (the smallest North American bird), is now a private residence. Undaunted, we scoured the area for hummingbird feeders and found a very active feeder at the Copperdale Inn, a mile and a half past Wondervu. We watched for some time and then watched more while we ate dinner at the inn, but only Broad-tailed Hummingbirds (the most common hummer in Colorado) showed up. There were approximately a zillion Pine Siskins at the sunflower seed feeders, though, and an unforgettable, lone Red Crossbill (female). The crossbill was obviously sick. One or both eyes were closed or mostly closed. Mostly it just sat. It once made its way to a feeder, and it stayed there for some time. It seemed to have barely enough strength to open the shells to get the seed. One siskin tried to take a sunflower seed from the crossbill's bill. Occasionally another bird would peck at its head or back. It was a pitiful sight. CANYON WREN (Day 5) The first stop of Day 5 was Red Rocks City Park, near Denver. We saw a few interesting birds there, but, to me, the park was a disappointment. We had hardly entered the park before we saw grounds crews picking up trash that had been left by people the night before who had come to the park for a rock concert by a group named Phish. There are three immense parking lots in Red Rocks City Park, and it is obvious that the city fathers have turned this potentially, and one-time beautiful area over to the youth of Denver. We were there early in the morning, and there weren't many people to be seen except for the ground crews and some construction workers. We weren't in the park for long before we heard a wren--a Canyon Wren, which would be a life bird for me. Could we find it? Yes, it didn't take long, but while wrens will usually let you get close, this one insisted on staying far away, and for a long while it wouldn't stay out in the open for long, either. Eventually, though, we located TWO wrens on the face of a red rock cliff nearly 200 yards distant. We moved closer and put the spotting scope on them. We followed them the best we could as they walked, one following the other, across the face of the cliff, every now and then disappearing behind an outcrop or into a crevice. They moved probably 60 yards in this manner until deciding to fly off and around the end of the mesa. Several minutes later one wren appeared much closer to us and, from the top of a rock, finally gave us a good, but brief, look. VIRGINIA'S WARBLER (Day 5) A Virginia's Warbler was found in low scrub at Red Rocks City Park. This was a life bird for me and a warbler I have little or no chance of finding in Michigan, Ohio, and Ontario since it likes arid, mountainous habitats in the Southwest. The bird was not cooperative, but I eventually got a look at all of its diagnostic features one at a time-- a white eye ring, yellow undertail coverts, and a dull yellow rump. TOWNSEND'S SOLITAIRE (Day 5) We had been in many areas where Townsend's Solitaire might have been seen, judging from the descriptions in the bird books of its preferred habitat. We did not find one until Day 5, however, at Genesee Park. There were two birds, and neither let us get close. Eventually, I got a satisfactory look, and, after much trying, I was able to see (easily) the white on the outer edges of the tail as it flew. This bird of interesting name is drab. We saw one more, with juvenal plumage, the following day at Mt. Falcon County Park. CORDILLERAN FLYCATCHER (Day 5) While the Lane guide assured us that we would find various Empidonax flycatchers at various sites, we found only Willow Flycatcher and Cordilleran Flycatcher, the latter at Genesee Park. We came upon the bird upon first entering the park but were unable to get a good look at it. Persistent and patient, as good birders must be, we tried again for this bird on the way out of the park, and we soon found it. This time it sat out in the open, on the end of a bare branch, for as long as we wanted to examine it. It was very easy to make out the eye ring and the area behind the eye where the eye ring is extended. PYGMY NUTHATCH (Day 6) We saw Pygmy Nuthatches a number of times during the six days of birding. These small, brown-capped cousins of the nuthatches found in the east were always in bunches, working over a tree like a gang of starlings work over a yard. We often saw six or 10 together, but we never saw as many as on Day 6 at Mt. Falcon County Park, where there were 15 or 20 together. When they were convinced that there was nothing more to harvest from the branches of one pine tree, they would move, nearly enmass, to the next tree. CALLIOPE HUMMINGBIRD...YES, YES! (Day 6) Gary and Lisa called the Colorado Rare Bird Alert Hotline on an earlier evening and learned that a Calliope Hummingbird was coming regularly to feeders at 4400 Bow-Mar Drive in Littleton, southwest of Denver. The Calliope, which is seen in Colorado only during migration, was a prime target for Day 6, especially since we had failed to find one in Wondervu. Three of five hummingbird feeders around the house and yard were not empty, so we kept an eye on all three. After 20 minutes and no appearance by the hummer, we drove off to Burger King for our lunch and then returned. No one had been home when we were first at 4400 Bow-Mar. Although the RBA said that birders were welcome to look for the hummer even if no one was home, we were more comfortable about doing so when we returned and found Mr. Jones home from work for lunch. I knocked on the door and talked with him briefly, and he said feel free..."Look for it; it will come." We didn't have to wait long. It was a male, with the unique purple-red stripes on its white throat. A very nice bird--one I'm really glad we got. RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRD (Day 6) While waiting for the Calliope Hummingbird, I saw three encounters, separated by about five minutes, between a Rufous Hummingbird and a House Finch. Rufous hummers are VERY aggressive. Wow! This one chased other hummers away from a feeder area even though seemingly not interested in feeding himself. But the most interesting sight was this hummer getting on the tail of a House Finch that was minding its own business at a seed feeder and chasing it out of the yard, both birds zigzagging this way and that. Twice more when the finch decided to come back it got chased from the yard, the hummer right on its tail and doing a better job of zigzagging that the finch could ever hope to do. Or maybe these were second and third finches. In fact, probably so. It was probably trying to clear out the whole yard. Had we stayed, we would have been next. WARBLERS (Day 6) Well, I didn't get any warblers on Day 6 except for another Virginia's, this one at Mt. Falcon County Park. But Lisa saw a Yellow Warbler at Barr Lake State Park--a trip bird. The only other warbler we had was a Common Yellowthroat, which Gary and Lisa heard on Day 4. Just as the Yellow escaped me on Day 6, MacGillivray's Warbler escaped us over the entire duration of the trip. Too bad. It will take another trip to the west to get this one. But, then, why not? There are lots of others on our list of no-shows and ones that got away. TRIP SUMMARY I had 48 life birds for the trip. My trip list was 115 birds. Lisa had nine life birds. Gary had none and really had no chance for any. For him this was a trip to help Lisa and me get some life birds--and to have a great time just birding! Gary and Lisa's trip list was probably 120- 125. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ SPECIFIED PERIOD LIST AUG 4, 1996 to AUG 9, 1996 First Sighting MO DA YR SPECIES LOCATION STATE 08 07 96 Clark's Grebe Rd. 13, Timnath Ski Club CO 08 07 96 Western Grebe Rte 13, Timnath Ski Club CO 08 07 96 American White Pelican Rte 13, Timnath Ski Club CO 08 07 96 Double-crested Cormorant Lagerman Reservoir,Bouldr CO 08 07 96 Black-crowned Night-Heron Rte 13, Timnath Ski Club CO 08 07 96 Snowy Egret Rte 13, Timnath Ski Club CO 08 04 96 Great Blue Heron Route 5, to Timnath CO 08 04 96 Canada Goose County Road 7 CO 08 05 96 Mallard Rocky Mountain Nat'l Park CO 08 07 96 Blue-winged Teal Lagerman Reservoir,Bouldr CO 08 07 96 Common Merganser Route 5 CO 08 07 96 Red-breasted Merganser Loveland, Rd. 29 (north) CO 08 07 96 Sora Rds. 13 & 78, marsh CO 08 07 96 American Coot Rd. 13, Timnath Ski Club CO 08 07 96 American Avocet Rd. 11, marsh CO 08 05 96 Killdeer Rocky Mountain Nat'l Park CO 08 07 96 Solitary Sandpiper Lagerman Reservoir,Bouldr CO 08 07 96 Spotted Sandpiper Rd. 13, Timnath Ski Club CO 08 07 96 Common Snipe Lagerman Reservoir,Bouldr CO 08 04 96 Franklin's Gull Route 5, to Timnath CO 08 04 96 Ring-billed Gull Route 5, to Timnath CO 08 07 96 Common Tern Rte 13, Timnath Ski Club CO 08 07 96 Black Tern Rte 13, Timnath Ski Club CO 08 04 96 Turkey Vulture Denver, near airport CO 08 04 96 Golden Eagle Pawnee Nat'l Grasslands CO 08 07 96 Bald Eagle Route 5 CO 08 04 96 Northern Harrier Pawnee Nat'l Grasslands CO 08 05 96 Sharp-shinned Hawk Rocky Mountain Nat'l Park CO 08 04 96 Red-tailed Hawk Pawnee Nat'l Grasslands CO 08 04 96 Swainson's Hawk Denver, near airport CO 08 04 96 Ferruginous Hawk Pawnee Nat'l Grasslands CO 08 07 96 Osprey Sawhill Ponds CO 08 04 96 American Kestrel U.S. 85 CO 08 09 96 Band-tailed Pigeon Parmalee Gulch Rd.,Denver CO 08 04 96 Rock Dove Denver, near airport CO 08 04 96 Mourning Dove Denver, near airport CO 08 04 96 Common Nighthawk Pawnee Nat'l Grasslands CO 08 08 96 White-throated Swift Red Rocks City Park CO 08 09 96 Calliope Hummingbird 4400 Bow Mar, Littleton CO 08 04 96 Broad-tailed Hummingbird Pawnee Nat'l Grasslands CO 08 04 96 Rufous Hummingbird Pawnee Nat'l Grasslands CO 08 05 96 Northern Flicker Rocky Mountain Nat'l Park CO 08 07 96 Lewis' Woodpecker Loveland, Rd. 29 (north) CO 08 05 96 Williamson's Sapsucker Rocky Mountain Nat'l Park CO 08 05 96 Red-naped Sapsucker Rocky Mountain Nat'l Park CO 08 08 96 Downy Woodpecker Little Park, Idledale CO 08 07 96 Hairy Woodpecker Copperdale Inn, Wondervu CO 08 04 96 Eastern Kingbird Pawnee Nat'l Grasslands CO 08 04 96 Western Kingbird U.S. 85 CO 08 06 96 Western Wood-Pewee Rocky Mtn NP, Endovalley CO 08 04 96 Say's Phoebe Pawnee Nat'l Grasslands CO 08 05 96 Willow Flycatcher Rocky Mountain Nat'l Park CO 08 08 96 Cordilleran Flycatcher Genesee Park, Denver CO 08 04 96 Horned Lark Pawnee Nat'l Grasslands CO 08 05 96 Violet-green Swallow Estes Park CO 08 07 96 Cliff Swallow Route 5 CO 08 04 96 Barn Swallow Pawnee Nat'l Grasslands CO 08 08 96 Western Scrub-Jay Red Rocks City Park CO 08 04 96 Blue Jay Route 40 CO 08 05 96 Steller's Jay Estes Park CO 08 06 96 Gray Jay RMNP, Trail Ridge Road CO 08 05 96 Clark's Nutcracker Rocky Mountain Nat'l Park CO 08 04 96 Black-billed Magpie U.S. 85 CO 08 04 96 American Crow U.S. 85 CO 08 05 96 Common Raven Rocky Mountain Nat'l Park CO 08 05 96 Black-capped Chickadee Rocky Mountain Nat'l Park CO 08 05 96 Mountain Chickadee Estes Park CO 08 05 96 Brown Creeper Rocky Mountain Nat'l Park CO 08 05 96 White-breasted Nuthatch Rocky Mountain Nat'l Park CO 08 05 96 Red-breasted Nuthatch Rocky Mountain Nat'l Park CO 08 05 96 Pygmy Nuthatch Rocky Mountain Nat'l Park CO 08 05 96 House Wren Rocky Mountain Nat'l Park CO 08 08 96 Canyon Wren Red Rocks City Park CO 08 08 96 Blue-gray Gnatcatcher Red Rocks City Park CO 08 05 96 Western Bluebird Rocky Mountain Nat'l Park CO 08 07 96 Mountain Bluebird 119 S. & 72 E. CO 08 08 96 Townsend's Solitaire Genesee Park, Denver CO 08 04 96 American Robin U.S. 34 CO 08 04 96 Loggerhead Shrike Pawnee Nat'l Grasslands CO 08 04 96 Sage Thrasher Pawnee Nat'l Grasslands CO 08 06 96 American Pipit RMNP, Trail Ridge Road CO 08 06 96 American Dipper Rocky Mtn NP, Endovalley CO 08 04 96 European Starling U.S. 85 CO 08 05 96 Warbling Vireo Estes Park CO 08 08 96 Virginia's Warbler Red Rocks City Park CO 08 05 96 Yellow-rumped Warbler Rocky Mountain Nat'l Park CO 08 06 96 Wilson's Warbler Rocky Mtn NP, Endovalley CO 08 07 96 Black-headed Grosbeak Copperdale Inn, Wondervu CO 08 04 96 Blue Grosbeak County Road 7 CO 08 07 96 Lazuli Bunting Loveland, Rd. 29 (north) CO 08 07 96 Spotted Towhee Loveland, Rd. 29 (north) CO 08 08 96 Song Sparrow Little Park, Idledale CO 08 07 96 Lark Sparrow Loveland, Rd. 29 (north) CO 08 07 96 Chipping Sparrow Loveland, Rd. 29 (north) CO 08 04 96 Brewer's Sparrow Pawnee Nat'l Grasslands CO 08 05 96 Dark-eyed Junco Estes Park CO 08 06 96 White-crowned Sparrow RMNP, Trail Ridge Road CO 08 04 96 Chestnut-collared Longspur Pawnee Nat'l Grasslands CO 08 04 96 McCown's Longspur Pawnee Nat'l Grasslands CO 08 04 96 Lark Bunting Pawnee Nat'l Grasslands CO 08 04 96 Western Meadowlark Pawnee Nat'l Grasslands CO 08 07 96 Yellow-headed Blackbird Rd. 13, Timnath Ski Club CO 08 07 96 Red-winged Blackbird Estes Park CO 08 04 96 Brewer's Blackbird Route 5, to Timnath CO 08 04 96 Brown-headed Cowbird Pawnee Nat'l Grasslands CO 08 07 96 Common Grackle Ft. Collins, Route 40 CO 08 08 96 Bullock's Oriole Little Park, Idledale CO 08 04 96 House Sparrow Denver, near airport CO 08 05 96 Pine Siskin Estes Park CO 08 07 96 American Goldfinch Loveland, Rd. 29 (north) CO 08 07 96 Lesser Goldfinch Loveland, Rd. 29 (north) CO 08 06 96 Red Crossbill Indian Village Store CO 08 06 96 Cassin's Finch Estes Park CO 08 04 96 House Finch Route 40 CO 08 06 96 Evening Grosbeak Estes Park CO ============= Total = 115 =============