My Backyard 1/17/12

This morning I was putting out some Perfect Patio seed blend on my deck railing and under our picnic table for the little Juncos after our snow last night andto my delight on my suet cage was a beautiful Hairy Woodpecker! He continued to eat his breakfast as I went along my morning business of filling the feeders, putting out fresh water and feeding the squirrels. I watched him from the kitchen window as the Juncos, Goldfinches, and House Finches flew in to eat the seed I had put out for them. After he was done, he flew up into the tree and wiped his bill clean of the insect suet he had enjoyed. He hopped higher up up the tree and out of sight so I didn't
get to see him fly away, but it certainly was a nice start to my day.

Lower Rio Grande Birding

I had the pleasure to travel to McAllen, Texas to join Bill Schmoker who led a photo trip organized by the Partnership for International Birding Tour Company. I certainly accomplished my goal of enjoying the excellent birding opportunities offered along the Rio Grande Valley and practicing and learning photo and digiscoping. We documented 174 species during the week and did so at a leisurely pace that suited our shutter speed perfectly. Bill Schmoker was able to expertly construct and implement an agenda to accommodate our needs. Check out some of these shots.. most were shot from my Leica D-Lux 4 camera on a Swarovski HD spotting scope.

Our group of 5.... Nancy, Wendy, Bob, Bill and me

Below is an overlook ofthe Laguna Atascosa Natinal Wildlife Preserve.Near the shore is a digiscoped Great Blue Heron

Above is a shot looking out onto open space on South Padre Island. To the right of the tree is a digiscoped White Tailed Kite.

Right a Least Bittern

Above a Golden Fronted Woodpecker

Left a Great Kiskadee

Altamira Oriole

Green Jay

Black Chinned Hummingbird

Black -bellied Whistling Ducks

Black Necked Stilt

My favorites a Tri Colored Heron and a Green Heron

Black Skimmers and Laughing Gulls

Couch's Kingbird

More on a future post!

Rosy Finches at Red Rocks Trading Post

Rosy Finches at Red Rocks Trading Post

Like many I have enjoyed the nice group of not so familiar birds that are now reliably showing themselves at the Red Rocks Park Trading Post. Of note is the Flock of 100 +/- 50 Rosy Finches that do a group swirl around the structure. All three Rosy Finches are present (Grey Crowned, Black, and Hepburn.)They seem to enjoy hanging out on the cliff by the Trading Post planning their strategy on how to attack the birdseed deposits on the wall and ground under the bird feeders. They certainly are a cool sight considering most will soon depart for the northwest coast of Canada. They like the cold weather and many mornings return upslope to probably Evergreen in the 9 AM time frame so if you want to see them get there early – 7:30 or so. Accompanying the Rosy’s is a Curve Billed Thrasher, Gold-crowned, Harris's and White Throated Sparrow. All are not normal visitors of the Front Range and it is a great opportunity for Denver folks to enjoy.

All bird pictures were digiscoped using a Swarovski 20x60 80mm HD scope with a Leica DLux-4 Camera.


Looking up at the Red Rocks Trading Post. You can see the wall many of the birds like to perch on.



Groups watch and photograph from the porch.



From below the Trading Post porch. A great spot to shoot photos.



A single Grey Crowned feeding.



Group of Grey Crowned Rosy's on the wall.



Grey Crowned Rosy Finches on the rocks below the Trading Post.



Another shot on the rocks.



2 Grey Crowns perched on the wall.



Spotted Towhee.



Scrub Jay's are not to be denied at Red Rocks!

Eclipse on the Winter solstice

It was chilly but the perfect night to try and capture the total eclipse of the moon last week. On the night of December 21 I stayed up to digiscope the event. Using my Swarovski spottingscope and 20x60 eyepiece and a Leica DLUX-4 camera with a modified Leica digiscope adapter I got these shots.

The only difficult part was the moon was near vertical and my tripod wanted to tip over being so out of balance. Holding the tripod and shooting a burst of 3 shots at a time helped. I used shutter priority for the most part. It seemed my best results were with shutter speed between 1/160 and 1/180 and the exposure set at -1.5.

Here are the results. All times are mountain time. My only disappointment was not capturing the orange glow of the moon during the full eclipse. I guess I need to work on shutter speed and exposure settings.

Moon pre-eclipse at 9:42 PM 21 Dec



Moon at 12:28 AM 22 DEC



Moon at 12:24 AM 22 Dec



Moon at 12:48 AM 22 Dec



Moon at 12:54 AM 22 Dec



Moon at 1:03 AM 22 Dec



Moon at 01:17 AM 22 Dec



Moon at 01:27 AM 22 Dec



Moon at 01:43 AM 22 Dec



Moon at 01:46 AM 22 Dec



Moon at 01:50 AM 22 Dec

Walk the Wetlands the first Sunday in November

This past week I joined the Audubon Society of Greater Denver on the “Walk the Wetlands “bird walk in Chatfield State Park. It was a great day with perfect fall weather. Just a couple of days later we got our first snow and cold blow from the north. About 20 or so birders joined Urling kingery and other Master Birders to take in the great weather and the birds of Chatfield.

Our bird count with many already left on their migration was surprisingly good. Here is a list of the species we saw.

American kestrel
White Breasted Nuthatch
House Finch
American Crow
Downey Woodpecker
Common Merganser
Starlings
Northern Flicker
White Crowned Sparrow
Black Capped Chickadee
American Tree Sparrow
Yellow Rumped Warbler
Magpie
Golden Eagle
Ferruginous Hawk
Red Tail Hawk





I was without my scope and not able to digiscope but this female Downey Woodpecker came close but hid in the brush. Downey’s are always neat to watch foraging up and down limbs and trunks of trees.





Urling Kingery spotted possibly the last hurrah of a Dainty Sulfur butterfly. The great weather we have been having has enabled this summer resident to hang in there well into November.




A Ferruginous Hawk soared above and took sentinel duty on a hill top about half mile away. Once again I wished I had my spotting scope and point and shoot camera for this digiscoping opportunity.




I love the age range of birders that Audubon attracts on the walks. Nature provides a great bond for kids and adults.

Walden, Colorado trip August 20010

On August 15,2010 our trip to North Park and Walden, Colorado with the Audubon Society of Greater Denver was a great success and enjoyed by all. Lee Farrell and myself lead 12 participants to see the late summer breeding grounds of many colonial nesting ducks, geese, grebes, and a variety of shorebirds. In all our bird count topped 84 species as we traversed several types of high planes habitats. Click here to view American White Pelicans foraging for fish at Windy Gap, Colorado.

The trip began with a rendezvous at the historic Peck House B&B in Empire, Colorado where we began with coffee, beagles, and hummingbirds. The Peck House front porch was abuzz with Broadtail and Rufus hummers. Our next stop after crossing Berthoud Pass was Windy Gap reservoir just north of Grand Lake. Here several species were observed to include a large group of American White Pelicans doing their unique fish herding routine.


The road to Walden from Windy Gap was an education of Pine Beetle devastation. Entire valleys of dead and dying lodge pole pines lined both sides of the road. It will be interesting to see the forest in succession. It will not be fast enough however.


The rest of the day was consumed with an auto tour of the Arapahoe National Wildlife Refuge and the Walden Reservoir. Many shorebirds were noted to include Western, Eared, and Pied Billed Grebes.


The accommodations were at the North Park Inn in Walden which was a great stay.
On Sunday we began an ambitious day with an early morning nature walk in the riparian area of ANWR followed by a trip to Lake John to see Western Grebes with babies on their backs – a real treat to see.


The return trip to Denver was over Cameron Pass and through Pudre Canyon to Ft Collins. Below are just some of the pictures I took.



Our group of 14 North Park travelers.

















This guy got away. Walden is the Moose viewing capital of Colorado but not seen ot this trip. This picture was digiscoped on an earlier scouting trip






A neat digiscope picture of a Barn Swallow early in the morning in the Arapahoe National Wildlife Refuge.

This was a shot of an elusive Greater Sage Grouse. A life bird for several in the group. The Greater Sage Grouse is under threat with habitat loss.

Pied Billed Grebe let me get close with my Leica camera.

A big goal was to find grebes with young riding on their backs. Here are 2 shots of Western Grebes parents doing just that.

An overlook of the Arapahoe Nathional Wildlife Refuge. Home of many a Moose.

Diane with our spotting scope trying to find a Moose!