Front Range Birding

Monday, April 29, 2013

Wheatridge Green Belt 4-29-13

Yellow-headed Blackbird

Snowy Egret

Great-tailed Grackle

Black-crowned Night-heron

Jordan Spalding (my boyfriend) adventured for a short walk around the Prospect Park that turned into a four hour excursion that totaled 50 species! We had never realised there were many ponds beyond the prospect park pond but today we ventured out and found 4 other small ponds a lovely marshy cattail area and a cormorant rookery! This is a sure sign that spring is on its way! The follow is our list and some photographs!

-Megan M.

Canada Goose
Gadwall
American Wigeon
Mallard
Northern Shoveler
Redhead
Lesser Scaup
Bufflehead
Common Goldeneye
Hooded Merganser
Pied-billed Grebe
Western Grebe
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Black-crowned Night-heron
Accipter Sp.
Red-tailed Hawk
Virginia Rail
American Coot
Ring-billed Gull
Rock Pigeon
Eurasian Collared Dove
Mourning Dove
Broad-tailed Hummingbird
Belted Kingfisher
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
American Kestrel
Say's Phoebe
Blue Jay
Black-billed Magpie
American Crow
Common Raven
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Tree Swallow
Barn Swallow
Cliff Swallow
Black-capped Chickadee
House Wren
American Robin
European Starling
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Song Sparrow
Yellow-headed Blackbird
Common Grackle
Great-tailed Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird
House Sparrow

Sunday, December 9, 2012

Cherry Creek State Park

Freezing our fingers off looking at the lake.

The adult Bald Eagle that flew over us and it tried to take the fish from the immature

Today's high was forecasted at 20 degrees Fahrenheit, but that didn't keep 11 hardy birders from enjoying the morning. It was a cold breezy four hours but we managed to see 18 species! and a sleeping raccoon. The highpoint was when a big long-necked white bird flew over us. a Swan! We could not determine the species in the brief time we saw it, but it was quite the lovely sight. Birds don't have to be identified to be enjoyed. Several Bald Eagles were flying around the lake as well giving everyone a good chance to observe some interesting social behavior between and adult and an immature. The adult was chasing the immature in hopes of taking its fish.
Swan Species (fly over) 1
Canada Goose 34+
Mallard 1
Lesser Scaup 5

Hooded Merganser 2
Bald Eagle 4 (3 adults one juvenile)
Red-tailed Hawk 1
-Harlan's Hawk 1
American Kestrel
American Coot 1
Killdeer 3
Gull Species 200+
-Herring Gull
-Ring-billed Gull
-California Gull
Northern Flicker 8
Black-billed Magpie 2
Black-capped Chickadee 1
American Tree Sparrow 1

Red-winged Blackbird 1

-Megan Miller

Friday, November 16, 2012

South Platte Park

Male and a female American Wigeon

Yesterday morning after class I went over to South Platte Park to look for some winter ducks. I managed to find 31 species total. The Common Mergansers, gulls, Cackling and Canada Geese where all found on Cooley Lake.

1 Snow Goose

Male American Wigeon

10 Cackling Geese
300 Canada Geese
15 Gadwall
100 American Wigeon
15 Mallard
25 Northern Shoveler
2 Northern Pintail
20 Redhead
15 Ring-necked Duck
10 Buffleheads
4 Common Goldeneye
10 Hooded Mergansers
50 Common Mergansers
2 Pied-billed Grebes
2 Western Grebes
1 Bald Eagle
3 Red-tailed hawk
1 Unidentified dark morph raptor.
20 American Coot
10 Ring-billed Gulls
4 Belted Kingfisher
5 Northern Flicker
6 Black-billed Magpies
10 American Crows
4 Black-capped Chickadees
10 European Starlings
4 American Tree Sparrows
5 Song Sparrow
5 Red-winged Blackbirds
4 House Finches

-Megan

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

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.

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

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

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

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!

Sunday, December 26, 2010

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