Colorado 2008 - week three
Walks from Cherryvale Road up to the end of week two
Day 15, Monday, January 28th
A few interesting birds again in the garden this morning. A pair of Black-billed Magpie, a Northern Flicker and I was able to have another look at a Downy Woodpecker, this time low in the trees in the front garden. As usual the Eastern Fox Squirrel were at the bird feeder again but today there were four of them! Alice is always keen to clear them off!
Circuit of Sawhill and Walden ponds from my GPS records of today
Canad Geese along the embankments at Sawhill Ponds
Canada Goose in long grass
A Canada Goose with identity collar
Close up of the coded collar
More images of Canada Geese at Sawhill Ponds.
Pleasant late afternoon diffuse light
American Robin on the front lawn at Cherryvale Road
Interesting 'by mistake' image
Some more shots of this robin
With James and Tracey I took a look at the Sawhill Ponds area just north and east of Cherryvale road. It is only about 10 minutes drive away and in fact joins up with the Walden Swamp that I visited briefly early in my stay in Boulder. The afternoon was cool and a bit windy at times but not unpleasant. It looked as though snow was falling from time to time in the mountains to the west.
Start of the trails
This is a complex of old gravel workings that have now been turned over to parkland reserve. Fishing is permitted but camping and bicycles are not allowed. There are numerous trails and we decided to do the outer ring to get a feel for the place. It reminded me in some ways of Stodmarsh near Canterbury in Kent or Radipole lake in Dorset. The ice was still too extensive and practically no open water was to be seen. In many of the ponds there were scattered low islands and these looked good for nesting birds such as Killdeer and the like. There was a hide. A simple but very effective looking open design. At Walden Ponds there was a short boardwalk through the Cattail marsh running along the shoreline.
The hide - outside and in
Some impressions from around the Sawhill Ponds
The only birds encountered were some Canada Geese, all told about 20 birds, an occasional overflying Ring-billed Gull with about 20 of this species loafing on Walden Pond, a solitary Northern Shoveler flying over, a few Northern Flicker and two or three small passerines that avoided proper identification but my have been a junco or one or other of the species of emberizine sparrow, I just couldn't be sure. One of the geese had a green identification collar C6C2.
Start of the trails
The hide - outside and in
Some impressions from around the Sawhill Ponds
Canad Geese along the embankments at Sawhill Ponds
Canada Goose in long grass
A Canada Goose with identity collar
Close up of the coded collar
More images of Canada Geese at Sawhill Ponds.
Pleasant late afternoon diffuse light
We saw a few Eurasian Starling on the move and at least three Red-tailed Hawk were circling in the far distance to the north. Together with a couple of American Kestrel and a single American Crow this was about the lot for today. No signs of any waders, herons, cormorants or other ducks and for all practical purposes the groves of Cottonwood and willow surrounding the ponds were deserted. Must be fabulous in Spring, summer and autumn! It is reputedly a very good area for birding, in season, but this is not the time to visit if bird watching is to be expected. All the same it was a very good place to go walking and, surprisingly, we met only one other person (a photographer) during our circuit of these Sawhill Ponds together with a couple and their two small dogs who were leaving as we started the walk. A bit different from the walk at Baseline Lake on Saturday afternoon!
The Walden Pond boardwalk and a bleak view of Walden Pond
Back home a fine American Robin was on the lawn in the front garden and it allowed me a few shots before it decided to move on!
The Walden Pond boardwalk and a bleak view of Walden Pond
American Robin on the front lawn at Cherryvale Road
Interesting 'by mistake' image
Some more shots of this robin
Day 16, Tuesday, January 29th
Today Tracey, James and I took a short drive southwards to Eldorado Springs and had a brief look at the canyon. We walked a short distance up the start of the South Mesa trail. A cold wind (Katabatic) was blowing down from the mountains and a we heard the loud rumblings of a rock fall from somewhere up the canyon. Despite the fact that conditions looked suitable with the stream running well, although still iced in places, no Dipper were spotted! This is the same South Boulder Creek that passes west of Cherryvale road. No birds were seen.
insert some pictures here
We then drove up to Chautauqua and further up Flagstaff road for some distance until well into the mountains and the Ponderosa pine forests. Wonderful views of Boulder from the first lookout and brilliant vistas across the mountains and valleys to the west. Still plenty of snow lying in sheltered areas up at this altitude but the road was completely clear. A couple of Clark's Nutcracker were seen flying above us as we drove up and three Black-billed Magpie were seen together but not much else.
insert some pictures here
After visiting again the Wild Bird Center of Boulder but this time to pick up some sunflower seed and a new feeder with squirrel proofing we headed back along Arapahoe to the parking spot on the top of the hill in Legion Park. From here we could scan the whole of the Valmont reservoir complex into which warm water is discharged by a large Power Station. I spotted a Common Loon (Great Northern Diver) at the southern end near the Power Station and we could see small clusters of American Coot along the waters edge. A few gulls were resting on the one small remaining area of ice. I took them to be Ring-billed Gull. The various arms of this reservoir were, as expected, unfrozen almost entirely. Viewing from this hill is good but distant from the water such as to make the use of a telescope a necessity for birding. Two loose flocks of 10-20 pigeons flew past at some distance and seemed far too uniform for Feral Pigeon. They flew fast and direct and none had any dark bands on the tail which in all instances looked pale grey and I could easily have taken them for Band-tailed Pigeon except that this species is uncommon and unlikely in winter. All the same they were incredibly uniform coloured pigeons and most unlike a motley bunch of ferals. My instant reaction was that they must have been Band-tailed Pigeon but I am not certain. A Red-tailed Hawk was circling high to the SW.
insert some pictures here
Back in the garden today we have seen several birds. The American Robin was seen again in the front garden; Dark-eyed Junco and Black-capped Chickadee were both seen and two Black-billed Magpie seem to be regulars. Small skeins of Canada Geese flew overhead several times and a Sharp-shinned/Cooper's Hawk was seen circling low to the west of the house in the late afternoon. I did not identify this one to species but it seemed a small bird and presumably therefore most likely a male. Baseline Reservoir is about 80% open water by today - only at the southern end does a little ice persist.
Day 17, Wednesday, January 30th
This morning Tracey, James and I set off for a drive north of Boulder. The intention was to visit a wetland park in Longmont then head west to Lyons and drive south along the Front Range back to Boulder via the Boulder Reservoir. We hoped for some raptors and possibly some interesting waterfowl on any wetlands with open water.
Our first point of call was at Fairground Swamp. I picked up this site from a website entry under Wild Bird Center of Boulder recent birdwalks with the following entry:
January 26, 2008. Sunny and windy. 40 degrees. 5-40 mph. 11 participants. We originally planned to go up to Allenspark to find rosy finches this morning, but the wind made us create new plans. We headed east to avoid the wind which worked pretty well. At Sandstone Ranch east of Longmont, we had almost calm conditions! Not a lot of birds, but it was calm. Fairgrounds Pond in Longmont: DUCKS, GEESE AND SWANS Canada Goose, 300; Cackling Goose, 6; Mallard,4; Common Goldeneye, 6; Common Merganser, 10; RAILS, GALLINULES AND COOTS American Coot, 1; CROWS AND JAYS American Crow, 3; BLACKBIRDS, ORIOLES, GRACKLES, ETC. Red-winged Blackbird, 2.
From: http://www.wildbird.com/stores/bld/home
The site is listed on the very useful Colorado Field Ornithologist website under 'birding by county' and 'Boulder' with the following entry:
Saint Vrain Greenway
Aliases - Golden Ponds Nature Area, Longmont Sewage Treatment Plant, Boulder County Fairgrounds
Description - This walking and bike trail starts in the west at Golden Ponds Nature Area, a park full of gravel ponds and Russian-olive groves. It can have good numbers of birds, mostly of the citified variety, but goodies have shown up and the place may be worth checking for migrant landbirds and wintering waterfowl. Just across Hover Road to the east are the Boulder County Fairgrounds, which have a couple of ponds of their own, as well as some breeding Osprey.
The central parts of the greenway are pretty urban, but the city has extended the trail east of Main Street almost to the Longmont Sewage Treatment Plant. This has opened up some very nice riverside birding areas that were formerly closed. Unfortunately, the quality of some of the habitats has been diminished by the clearing of brush and the introduction of prairie-dogs. Furthermore, the best area of the creek, just south of the Sewage Treatment Plant, is out-of-bounds. However, the open parkland retains some small ponds and some decent riparian habitat for migrants and breeders. Currently the best place to park is in the parking lot of the strip mall on the west side of Main Street and the south side of the river.
Habitat - Pond/Lake/Reservoir, Lowland Riparian, Stream, Urban/Suburban
Directions - From Boulder, take the Diagonal (CO 119) to Longmont. To get to Golden Ponds and the fairgrounds, turn left (north) onto Hover Road. The fairgrounds are on the right just before (south of) the river. The entrance to Golden Ponds is on the left, just beyond (north of ) the river. To get to the eastern section of the greenway, do not turn onto Hover Road, but stay on CO 199 through the southern part of town all the way to Main Street. Turn left (north) on Main Street and park in the stripmall parking lot on the left (west) side of Main just south of the river. Delorme - 30 C2; Roads of Colorado - 56 C2
From: http://www.coloradocountybirding.com//index.
It was spectacular! We were greeted by masses Canada Geese on mostly open water. Amongst them, and they numbered about 1500, were at least 10 Cackling Geese.
Canada Geese are now treated as two species Greater Canada Goose Branta canadensis and Lesser Canada Goose B. hutchinsii according to BOU but better called simply Canada Goose and Cackling Goose as they do in North America. Here we had representatives of both together. The identification is not normally easy but here the smaller and darker Cackling Geese were spotted immediately amongst the mob and as expected tended to go as sub-groups withing the masses reflecting family ties of young staying close with parents- a bonding behaviour of most geese and swans that last well up to the start of the next breeding season. David Sibley has a web page that is most instructive if only to cause considerable doubt about exactly what you might be looking at!
see: http://www.sibleyguides.com/canada_cackling.htm
Also present were 25-30 Goosander (Common Merganser in North America) mostly males; two male [Common] Goldeneye, about 50 Ring-billed Gull and surprisingly only a handful of Mallard. I saw only one American Coot.
insert some pictures here
Moving on from here we briefly scanned the extension west of this system, termed the Golden Ponds but there was nothing of note to see here so we continued to drive north up Hover Street and then west along Ute road past still frozen Burch and then McCall Lakes before turning south down to Niwot Road and on to the west side of Boulder Reservoir via 55th Street. Just past Valhalla (where is Wagner when you need him!) we entered the reservoir via the exit gate as one does in winter whern there is no charge to go in! Somewhere near Ellison lane we stopped at the entrance to a model airplane field because we had spotted through the windscren a Red-tailed Hawk circling above what must have been a Prairie Falcon. Unfortunately, our views were brief because once we had pulled up and got out the car the falcon was nowhere to be seen although the Red-tail was still soaring higher and higher. We saw a good number of Red-tailed Hawk in all, perhaps as many as 20 but none proved to be a Ferruginous Hawk as I had hoped for. The Boulder Reservoir is to the north of the strip of land that divides it from the smaller Six-mile, and privately owned, Reservoir to the south. This is a popular boating and swimming venue in summer and there were several trailer-sailer craft and a few dinghies and catamarans in the boat park under winter wraps. Not much about except for a few Canada Geese and a couple of American Crow.
We headed into town after dropping off Alice t the Cherryvale House. We had lunch at the Dushanbe Tea House where we met up with David who had taken the afternoon off after a busy week, first with a short trip to Dublin and London followed a day or so later by a long day in Philadelphia. Near the tea house at the southern end of 13th street there is a wonderful map shop with just about everything you could want. A very impressive stock and very international aside from the excellent local coverage for Colorado.
insert some pictures here
Home for the rest of the afternoon with light snow falling by dusk. During the evening a 3" covering fell. Back to an all white outdoors!
Day 18, Thursday, January 31st
Some more photographs of the Cheeryvale house in snow. I do not go out birding all day and about all I see is a couple of Black-billed Magpie and the American Robin who now seems to have moved to the back garden, probably because the crab apples are again under snow!
In the evening Tracey, David and I go to the Falgstaff Restaurant, overlooking Boulder, for a quality meal. We all have the chef's tastings - that is a five course meal chosen by the chef and accompanied by an equal number of selected wines. A good choice but very rich food! The view from here looking down on the twinkling lights of Boulder is stunning.
Today Tracey, James and I took a short drive southwards to Eldorado Springs and had a brief look at the canyon. We walked a short distance up the start of the South Mesa trail. A cold wind (Katabatic) was blowing down from the mountains and a we heard the loud rumblings of a rock fall from somewhere up the canyon. Despite the fact that conditions looked suitable with the stream running well, although still iced in places, no Dipper were spotted! This is the same South Boulder Creek that passes west of Cherryvale road. No birds were seen.
insert some pictures here
We then drove up to Chautauqua and further up Flagstaff road for some distance until well into the mountains and the Ponderosa pine forests. Wonderful views of Boulder from the first lookout and brilliant vistas across the mountains and valleys to the west. Still plenty of snow lying in sheltered areas up at this altitude but the road was completely clear. A couple of Clark's Nutcracker were seen flying above us as we drove up and three Black-billed Magpie were seen together but not much else.
insert some pictures here
After visiting again the Wild Bird Center of Boulder but this time to pick up some sunflower seed and a new feeder with squirrel proofing we headed back along Arapahoe to the parking spot on the top of the hill in Legion Park. From here we could scan the whole of the Valmont reservoir complex into which warm water is discharged by a large Power Station. I spotted a Common Loon (Great Northern Diver) at the southern end near the Power Station and we could see small clusters of American Coot along the waters edge. A few gulls were resting on the one small remaining area of ice. I took them to be Ring-billed Gull. The various arms of this reservoir were, as expected, unfrozen almost entirely. Viewing from this hill is good but distant from the water such as to make the use of a telescope a necessity for birding. Two loose flocks of 10-20 pigeons flew past at some distance and seemed far too uniform for Feral Pigeon. They flew fast and direct and none had any dark bands on the tail which in all instances looked pale grey and I could easily have taken them for Band-tailed Pigeon except that this species is uncommon and unlikely in winter. All the same they were incredibly uniform coloured pigeons and most unlike a motley bunch of ferals. My instant reaction was that they must have been Band-tailed Pigeon but I am not certain. A Red-tailed Hawk was circling high to the SW.
insert some pictures here
Back in the garden today we have seen several birds. The American Robin was seen again in the front garden; Dark-eyed Junco and Black-capped Chickadee were both seen and two Black-billed Magpie seem to be regulars. Small skeins of Canada Geese flew overhead several times and a Sharp-shinned/Cooper's Hawk was seen circling low to the west of the house in the late afternoon. I did not identify this one to species but it seemed a small bird and presumably therefore most likely a male. Baseline Reservoir is about 80% open water by today - only at the southern end does a little ice persist.
Day 17, Wednesday, January 30th
This morning Tracey, James and I set off for a drive north of Boulder. The intention was to visit a wetland park in Longmont then head west to Lyons and drive south along the Front Range back to Boulder via the Boulder Reservoir. We hoped for some raptors and possibly some interesting waterfowl on any wetlands with open water.
Our first point of call was at Fairground Swamp. I picked up this site from a website entry under Wild Bird Center of Boulder recent birdwalks with the following entry:
January 26, 2008. Sunny and windy. 40 degrees. 5-40 mph. 11 participants. We originally planned to go up to Allenspark to find rosy finches this morning, but the wind made us create new plans. We headed east to avoid the wind which worked pretty well. At Sandstone Ranch east of Longmont, we had almost calm conditions! Not a lot of birds, but it was calm. Fairgrounds Pond in Longmont: DUCKS, GEESE AND SWANS Canada Goose, 300; Cackling Goose, 6; Mallard,4; Common Goldeneye, 6; Common Merganser, 10; RAILS, GALLINULES AND COOTS American Coot, 1; CROWS AND JAYS American Crow, 3; BLACKBIRDS, ORIOLES, GRACKLES, ETC. Red-winged Blackbird, 2.
From: http://www.wildbird.com/stores/bld/home
The site is listed on the very useful Colorado Field Ornithologist website under 'birding by county' and 'Boulder' with the following entry:
Saint Vrain Greenway
Aliases - Golden Ponds Nature Area, Longmont Sewage Treatment Plant, Boulder County Fairgrounds
Description - This walking and bike trail starts in the west at Golden Ponds Nature Area, a park full of gravel ponds and Russian-olive groves. It can have good numbers of birds, mostly of the citified variety, but goodies have shown up and the place may be worth checking for migrant landbirds and wintering waterfowl. Just across Hover Road to the east are the Boulder County Fairgrounds, which have a couple of ponds of their own, as well as some breeding Osprey.
The central parts of the greenway are pretty urban, but the city has extended the trail east of Main Street almost to the Longmont Sewage Treatment Plant. This has opened up some very nice riverside birding areas that were formerly closed. Unfortunately, the quality of some of the habitats has been diminished by the clearing of brush and the introduction of prairie-dogs. Furthermore, the best area of the creek, just south of the Sewage Treatment Plant, is out-of-bounds. However, the open parkland retains some small ponds and some decent riparian habitat for migrants and breeders. Currently the best place to park is in the parking lot of the strip mall on the west side of Main Street and the south side of the river.
Habitat - Pond/Lake/Reservoir, Lowland Riparian, Stream, Urban/Suburban
Directions - From Boulder, take the Diagonal (CO 119) to Longmont. To get to Golden Ponds and the fairgrounds, turn left (north) onto Hover Road. The fairgrounds are on the right just before (south of) the river. The entrance to Golden Ponds is on the left, just beyond (north of ) the river. To get to the eastern section of the greenway, do not turn onto Hover Road, but stay on CO 199 through the southern part of town all the way to Main Street. Turn left (north) on Main Street and park in the stripmall parking lot on the left (west) side of Main just south of the river. Delorme - 30 C2; Roads of Colorado - 56 C2
From: http://www.coloradocountybirding.com//index.
It was spectacular! We were greeted by masses Canada Geese on mostly open water. Amongst them, and they numbered about 1500, were at least 10 Cackling Geese.
Canada Geese are now treated as two species Greater Canada Goose Branta canadensis and Lesser Canada Goose B. hutchinsii according to BOU but better called simply Canada Goose and Cackling Goose as they do in North America. Here we had representatives of both together. The identification is not normally easy but here the smaller and darker Cackling Geese were spotted immediately amongst the mob and as expected tended to go as sub-groups withing the masses reflecting family ties of young staying close with parents- a bonding behaviour of most geese and swans that last well up to the start of the next breeding season. David Sibley has a web page that is most instructive if only to cause considerable doubt about exactly what you might be looking at!
see: http://www.sibleyguides.com/canada_cackling.htm
Also present were 25-30 Goosander (Common Merganser in North America) mostly males; two male [Common] Goldeneye, about 50 Ring-billed Gull and surprisingly only a handful of Mallard. I saw only one American Coot.
insert some pictures here
Moving on from here we briefly scanned the extension west of this system, termed the Golden Ponds but there was nothing of note to see here so we continued to drive north up Hover Street and then west along Ute road past still frozen Burch and then McCall Lakes before turning south down to Niwot Road and on to the west side of Boulder Reservoir via 55th Street. Just past Valhalla (where is Wagner when you need him!) we entered the reservoir via the exit gate as one does in winter whern there is no charge to go in! Somewhere near Ellison lane we stopped at the entrance to a model airplane field because we had spotted through the windscren a Red-tailed Hawk circling above what must have been a Prairie Falcon. Unfortunately, our views were brief because once we had pulled up and got out the car the falcon was nowhere to be seen although the Red-tail was still soaring higher and higher. We saw a good number of Red-tailed Hawk in all, perhaps as many as 20 but none proved to be a Ferruginous Hawk as I had hoped for. The Boulder Reservoir is to the north of the strip of land that divides it from the smaller Six-mile, and privately owned, Reservoir to the south. This is a popular boating and swimming venue in summer and there were several trailer-sailer craft and a few dinghies and catamarans in the boat park under winter wraps. Not much about except for a few Canada Geese and a couple of American Crow.
We headed into town after dropping off Alice t the Cherryvale House. We had lunch at the Dushanbe Tea House where we met up with David who had taken the afternoon off after a busy week, first with a short trip to Dublin and London followed a day or so later by a long day in Philadelphia. Near the tea house at the southern end of 13th street there is a wonderful map shop with just about everything you could want. A very impressive stock and very international aside from the excellent local coverage for Colorado.
insert some pictures here
Home for the rest of the afternoon with light snow falling by dusk. During the evening a 3" covering fell. Back to an all white outdoors!
Day 18, Thursday, January 31st
Some more photographs of the Cheeryvale house in snow. I do not go out birding all day and about all I see is a couple of Black-billed Magpie and the American Robin who now seems to have moved to the back garden, probably because the crab apples are again under snow!
In the evening Tracey, David and I go to the Falgstaff Restaurant, overlooking Boulder, for a quality meal. We all have the chef's tastings - that is a five course meal chosen by the chef and accompanied by an equal number of selected wines. A good choice but very rich food! The view from here looking down on the twinkling lights of Boulder is stunning.
posted by Ardenna at 12:00 PM
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