Another Jewel in Boulder County

Kristy and Dee went for an evening bird walk last night at Teller Farm in Boulder County. It is located on the north side of Arapahoe Road between 75th and 95th Streets. In just over an hour we saw 28 species of birds...fun indeed! This area has varied habitat: a couple of lakes, irrigation ditch, fields, cottonwood stands and crop land which allows for a great variety of species. Another bonus to this area is the beautiful view of the flatirons and front range of Boulder. My first yellow-rumped warblers of the season were hanging out. When we stood still they came to investigate us and it was too close for binoculars, always a thrill (above). As always it is great to be birding in Colorado. The complete list: 1) Western Meadowlark, 2) Yellow-headed Blackbird, 3) Red-winged Blackbird, 4) Great Blue Heron, 5) Red-tailed Hawk, 6) House Sparrow, 7) House Finch, 8) European Starling, 9) Mallard, 10) Black-billed Magpie, 11) American Robin, 12) Double-crested Cormorant, 13) Cinnamon Teal, 14) Western Grebe, 15) Canada Goose, 16) Killdeer, 17) Tree Swallow, 18) Violet-green Swallow, 19) American Coot, 20) Mourning Dove, 21) American Tree Sparrow, 22) Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle Race), 23) White-crowned Sparrow, 24) Northern Flicker, 25) American White Pelican, 26) Blue Jay, 27) American Kestrel, 28) Great Horned Owl.

Birding in Boulder County

Today was a wonderful day to do some spring birding in Boulder County. We visited Rock Creek Farm, Walnut Creek Trail and Standley Lake. The Swainson's Hawks are in and making nests and we found Great Blue Heron Rookeries, Double-crested Cormorant Rookeries and many Red-tailed Hawks nests. The Yellow-headed Blackbird (right) was in full force and at times covered the trees like ornaments. Here is our complete list for the morning: 1) Western Meadowlark, 2) Red-winged Blackbird, 3) Canada Goose, 4) Common Grackle, 5) American Tree Sparrow, 6) Killdeer, 7) Northern Shoveler, 8) Tree Swallow, 9) Yellow-headed Blackbird, 10) Mallard, 11) Barn Swallow, 12) Bonaparte's Gull, 13) Blue-winged Teal, 14) Willet, 15) American Avocet, 16) European Starling, 17) Violet-green Swallow, 18) Red-tailed Hawk, 19) Spotted Sandpiper, 20) American Robin, 21) Song Sparrow, 22) Mourning Dove, 23) American Kestrel, 24) Say's Phoebe, 25) Sharp-shinned Hawk, 26) Swainson's Hawk, 27) Great Blue Heron, 28) Belted Kingfisher, 29) Northern Flicker, 30) American Goldfinch, 31) Double-crested Cormorant, 32) Black-billed Magpie, 33) Bald Eagle. Happy Birding! Dee

Mountain Plover Search in Pawnee Grasslands

On April 11th Kristy and Dee went on a trip to search for the Mountain Plover in Pawnee National Grasslands. This bird is a species of concern and is becoming more rare to see. The wind was blowing and the temperature was frigid but the birds didn't care. We had a wonderful day and had a total of 56 species for the trip. Other stops along the way were Drake Lake and Tinmath Reservoir. We did see the Mountain Plover, in fact three of them. Following is the complete bird list: 1) Snow Goose, 2) American Kestrel, 3) Mourning Dove, 4) American Robin, 5) Golden Eagle, 6) Northern Harrier, 7) Western Meadowlark, 8) Black-billed Magpie, 9) Ring-billed Gull, 10) Great Blue Heron, 11) Rock Pigeon, 12) Canada Geese, 13) Red-tailed Hawk, 14) European Starling, 15) Eurasian Collored-Dove, 16) Burrowing Owl, 17) Horned Lark, 18) Mountain Plover, 19) Northern Flicker, 20) Barn Owl (Crow Valley Campground had 3!), 21) Red-winged Blackbird, 22) Double-crested Cormorant, 23) McCown's Longspur, 24) American Coot, 25) Pied-billed Grebe, 26) Yellow-headed Blackbird, 27) Northern Shoveler, 28) Blue-winged Teal, 29) Lesser Scaup, 30) Gadwall, 31) Franklin's Gull, 32) Ring-necked Duck, 33) Cinnamon Teal, 34) California Gull, 35) Common Grackle, 36) Mallard, 37) Swainson's Hawk, 38) American Wigeon, 39) House Sparrow, 40) Great-tailed Grackle, 41) American White Pelican, 42) Dark-eyed Junco, 43) Ring-necked Pheasant, 44) Bufflehead, 45) Canvasback, 46) Redhead, 47) Killdeer, 48) Greater Yellowlegs, 49) Greater White-fronted Goose, 50) Common Goldeneye, 51) Prairie Falcon, 52) Common Merganser, 53) Red-breasted Merganser, 54) Ruddy Duck, 55) Horned Grebe, 56) Western Grebe.