Turkey Week Birding

We spent most of this week at our aunt's house in Aurora, and since our cousin Victor is also now birding, we were out birding most of the time. We met them for lunch in Boulder on Monday (the 24th), and since the Long-tailed Duck at Baseline Reservoir was still being reported, we tried again. There were Buffleheads, Common Goldeneyes, Red-breasted Mergansers, and Ring-billed Gulls, but again we missed seeing the Long-tailed Duck and the Surf Scoters. We didn't bird there for very long, as the traffic was very loud and distracting. Heading for a quieter place, we stopped by Walden Ponds, which was much more active. We saw 23 species.

Marcel, Victor, and Joel birding Walden Ponds - by Renee Haip

Greater Yellowlegs - by Joel Such

Canada Geese - by Renee Haip

On Tuesday, the 25th, we birded some new territory, Arapahoe County. We got out to South Platte Park near Littleton a little before noon. Joel and I were surprised by the number of ducks in the South Platte River. It took us about an hour to even get to the first lake! One of our most surprising finds was a male Mallard x Northern Pintail hybrid that was hanging out with some Mallards in the river. The camera I use for digiscoping was not working properly, so we relied on Aunt Diane's camera to get photos. 

Mallard x Northern Pintail Hybrid - by Diane Germain

Another unexpected sighting was a late Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, spotted by Victor, that was by the bird viewing blind. There were lots of waterfowl on the lakes, even more than on the river. But perhaps the highest quantity of birds were the ones passing overhead, a couple hundred Canadian Geese and several Common Mergansers. There were also signs of the bird life that had been here during breeding season, signs in the form of old bird nests. It seemed to us that there was a nest in every tree, some of which were just two feet off of the trail!  We also saw two large wasp nests.

Bird Count from South Platte Park:

Canada Goose - 250

Gadwall - 20

American Wigeon - 40

Mallard - 60

Northern Shoveler - 2, male and female

Northern Pintail - 1 female, 2 males

Northern Pintail x Mallard hybrid - 1 male

Green-winged Teal - 4 females, 5 males

Redhead - 1 male

Ring-necked Duck - 10

Lesser Scaup - 2 males

Bufflehead - 4 females, 5 males

Common Goldeneye - 10

Hooded Merganser - 10

Common Merganser - 19 males

Pied-billed Grebe - 2

Double-crested Cormorant - 1 juvenile

Great Blue Heron - 2

Bald Eagle - 1

American Kestrel - 1

Prairie Falcon - 1, eating an unidentifiable duck carcass

American Coot - 20

Ring-billed Gull - 25

Belted Kingfisher - 1 male

Downy Woodpecker - 1

"Red-shafted" Northern Flicker - 5

Black-billed Magpie - 1

American Crow - 3

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher - 1

American Robin - 20

European Starling - 2

Song Sparrow - 1

Red-winged Blackbird - 4 males

House Finch - 10

House Sparrow - 10

On the way home we stopped at two city parks, Utah and Expo. Utah Park hosted hundreds of Canadian Geese and some Cackling Geese, as well as the normal group of tame Mallards waiting for a hand-out. Among the Mallards we also found a pair of American Wigeons, which were just as tame as the Mallards. Expo Park had less individuals, but more species. We saw Canadian Geese, American Wigeons, Mallards, Northern Shovelers, Ring-necked Ducks, Common Goldeneyes, Buffleheads, and American Coots.

On Wednesday, the 26th, we birded Cherry Creek State Park. It wasn't quite as active as South Platte Park, but it was still a lot of fun. We got out earlier today, around 8 o'clock in the morning. There had been a lot of cool and rare things reported here lately, but we didn't see any of them. One of the highlights from this trip was a couple of Bonaparte's Gulls in a flock of Ring-billed Gulls on the south side of the reservoir.

Bird Count for Cherry Creek State Park:

Cackling Goose - 10

Canada Goose - 100

Gadwall - a male and a female

Mallard - 2 males and 4 females

Green-winged Teal - 5 males and 15 females

Common Goldeneye - a huge group by the dam

Common Merganser - five in the southeast corner of the reservoir

American White Pelican - 2 late juveniles on the docks

Great Blue Heron - 1 flying over

Northern Harrier - 1

Cooper's Hawk - 1 spooking the gulls

Red-tailed Hawk - 3

American Kestrel - 2

American Coot - 20

Killdeer - 4 walking on the ice

Spotted Sandpiper - 1 very late individual

Bonaparte's Gull - 4

Ring-billed Gull - 100 or so

California Gull - 1

Herring Gull - 5

Belted Kingfisher - 1 male perching on sailboat masts and diving at the marina

Downy Woodpecker - 1

Northern Flicker "Red-shafted" - 1

Black-billed Magpie - 4

American Crow - 10

Black-capped Chickadee - 1

European Starling - 3

American Tree Sparrow - 3

Song Sparrow - 2

House Finch - 5

Before heading back home for lunch, we stopped at one of Victor's favorite birding spots, Bluff Lake. The lake was low, but there was still a lot of waterfowl. There was also a large thicket of Giant Reed Grass, which is an exotic and invasive species.

Bird Count for Bluff Lake:

Mallard - 5 females 10 males

Northern Shoveler - 6 females 4 males

Green-winged Teal - 10 females 5 males

Killdeer - 3

Wilson's Snipe - 1

Downy Woodpecker - 1

"Red-shafted" Northern Flicker - 1

Black-billed Magpie - 1

American Robin - 9

Song Sparrow - 1

White-crowned Sparrow - 3

Red-winged Blackbird - 5

Brown-headed Cowbird - 1 male

House Finch - 4

You might have the impression that this was a boys only birding week, but without Aunt Diane as our driver and birding companion, we wouldn't have gotten very far!  Thanks Aunt Diane!