Mount Sanitas and the Boulder Christmas Bird Count

The 2011 Mount Sanitas CBC Crew

Left to right: Skye Lewis, Marcel Such, Levi Stone, Joel Such

On Sunday, December 18th, we hit the trails of Mount Sanitas for the Boulder Christmas Bird Count.  Though a rather small area for the Boulder circle, this area can take all day because of the miles of trail needing to be covered, and only a tiny section of road in one corner, which de-marks one of the easier habitats to cover, the foothill's suburbs.  Elsewhere, it is foothills Ponderosa Pine forest, with some scattered Wild Plum riparian areas.  These habitats don't have as high a density of birds - typically just a handful of roving wintering flocks of juncos, chickadees, and nuthatches, plus some scattered jays and woodpeckers - but that makes it all the more difficult to obtain accurate counts.  For the previous two years we have covered this area by ourselves, but this year we joined forces with the newly formed Boulder County Audubon Teen Naturalists' program for a great day of hiking and birding.

All photos by Joel Such

Levi Stone on Mount Sanitas against a backdrop of Boulder

The Dakota Ridge Hogback

Sanitas Valley Trail

Black-billed Magpie

American Kestrel

American Robin

Red-tailed Hawk

Golden Eagle

Bushtit (we saw these little guys everywhere!)

Eastern Bluebird (see note below)

(previous years totals in parenthesis)

Canada Goose - 1 (3) 

Sharp-shinned Hawk - 2

Northern Goshawk - 1 flying through Sanitas Valley. 

Red-tailed Hawk - 4 (5) 

Golden Eagle - 1 (1)

American Kestrel - 2 (2)

Rock Pigeon - 43 (28)

Eurasian Collared-Dove - 3 

Downy Woodpecker - 2 (1)

Hairy Woodpecker - 2 (3)

Northern "Red-shafted" Flicker - 12 (12)

Steller's Jay - 39 (35)

Western Scrub-Jay - 3 (3)

Black-billed Magpie - 38 (27)

American Crow - 21 (210!)

Common Raven - 17 (6)

Black-capped Chickadee - 7 (7)

Mountain Chickadee - 14 (16)

Bushtit - 52 (28)

White-breasted Nuthatch - 9 (3)

Pygmy Nuthatch - 71 (39)

Brown Creeper - 4 (2)

Canyon Wren - 2 (1)

Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 1 (2) 

Eastern Bluebird - 1 male, we typically see Western Bluebirds in this area, which is what we originally identified this bird as.  Looking at photographs that Joel took, however, caused us to doubt this assumption.  The correct identification was actually Eastern.  We did not obtain any pictures of the female, so we cannot be certain of its identification.
Bluebird species - 1 female

Townsend's Solitaire - 37 (30)

American Robin - 48 (2)

European Starling - 13 (1)

Spotted Towhee - 17 (1)

Dark-eyed Junco (total) - 129 (167)

     undifferentiated - 56 (71)

     Gray-headed - 34 (62)

     Oregon - 2 (3)

     Pink-sided - 24 (22)

     Slate-colored - 13 (9)

House Finch - 44 (65)

House Sparrow - 12

32 species

Boulder County Audubon Teen Naturalists - Winter Raptors

This morning was the Boulder County Audubon Teen Naturalists' inaugural event, a wintering raptor survey in Boulder County.  With three participants - myself, Joel, and Skye Lewis - and our able guides Steve Jones and Sarah Bexell, it was a great beginning of what looks to be an excellent group.

Left to right:  Sarah Bexell, Marcel Such, Skye Lewis, Steve Jones, Joel Such

photo by David Such

We surveyed Boulder County Nature Associations' South Rabbit Mountain route north of Boulder, and had a good number of hawks, kestrels, and eagles, marking the locations of the birds on a topographical map for a county-wide database of such sightings.  And though raptors were our main focus, we also enjoyed the other wintering bird species that we happened across.  As we gathered back at our meeting point, Joel spotted an adult Bald Eagle flying over, a fit end to a wonderful morning.  Too bad it wasn't countable for the survey!

photo by Joel Such

Immature Ferruginous Hawk

photo by Marcel Such

Male American Kestrel

photo by Joel Such

"White-cheeked" Goose - 100

Red-tailed Hawk - 12 (including one dark-morph bird, and one eastern borealis bird)

Ferruginous Hawk - 3 (the most I've ever seen in the county on one day)

Golden Eagle - 1

American Kestrel - 12

Rock Pigeon - 10

"Red-shafted" Northern Flicker - 1

Blue Jay - 2

Black-billed Magpie - 6

Common Raven - 2

American Robin - 2

European Starling - 60

Dark-eyed Junco - 6

Red-winged Blackbird - 5

American Goldfinch - 6

16 species