Colorado 2008 - week one

BOULDER

[You can't get much bolder!]


Boulder - Colorado - January 2008

Day 1 -Monday, January 14^th

A day of travel. I leave Chifley at 0730 when Jim Nancarrow drives me to Canberra airport to catch my flight to Sydney and following a 3 hour wait in the departure lounge at Kingsford Smith International I continue my journey across the Pacific to Los Angeles where I transfer again to a flight that takes me to the new airport at Denver. I do this after clearing US customs in LA which, for the first time in my experience, was done very swiftly. However, this followed half an hour sitting in the plane on the tarmac before we were allowed to disembark because the customs hall did not open until 8 AM! Denver airport is very spacious and clean and the baggage hall is reached by a short train ride! We arrived about 40 minutes late but David meets me almost immediately I have recovered my two pieces of hold luggage and we head home. All I see of birds on the way to Boulder are some flocks of Canada Geese and a few flights of ducks that I do not identify but presume are most likely Mallard. Due to crossing the dateline and heading east I arrive in Denver at about 3PM on the same day that I started but the time between departure from home and arrival in Denver was much greater! It’s a long haul and very tiring, mostly from being cramped up in airplanes for a whole day.

View along the South Boulder Creek Trail

Day 2 - Tuesday, January 15^th

Shortly after 9AM I take a morning walk along the nearby South Boulder Creek trail. The sky was grey and there was a chill breeze from the west. While James was at pre-school from 8:30 until 11:30AM Tracey could take the opportunity to visit the swimming pool at the sports centre and I could continue my walk to the end of the trail with Alice the dog and then walk slowly home to the house in Cherryvale Road. The setting was rural and the conditions cold, bleak and wintry. Patches of snow remained here and there, mostly frozen as ice. Lines from the old Christmas carol “In the bleak mid winter, Frosty wind made moan, Earth stood hard as iron, Water like a stone, Snow had fallen, Snow on snow……..” certainly came to mind as I strolled past patches of tall teazel alongside the path and sometimes extending out into the brown pastures. The soil is hard frozen at these times of the year.

Groups of Canada Geese moved about in small flocks or grazed well out in the fields, often amongst the cattle. Pairs and small flocks of Mallard occasionally wheel overhead. There is not much open water about with most pools iced over. It is very bleak with few birds out and about but I did pick up a couple of Black-capped Chickadee and some Dark-eyed Junco foraging in the shrubs and trees along the creek and an adult Bald Eagle flew past early during the walk. Some Starling were seen in small winter flocks and one American Kestrel and two Red-tailed Hawk, one of the latter was an adult with rufous tail and the other was a pale immature without any red in the tail but with a distinctive grey head. A solitary Black-billed Magpie was seen on the back of a resting cow and a Northern Flicker called from high up among the branches of stark leafless trees at two different locations. These few birds more or less completed the full list of what I encountered in an hour or so of walking. Certainly not a lot.

We go out to lunch and then drive to a small reserve called Waldon Pond which is between Jay Street and Valmont Street and west of N75th Street. All of the wetland was frozen with only a group of Canada Geese resting on the ice and a few dozen Ring-billed Gull. In a paddock nearby I spot three Canada Geese with green neck collars amongst a group of about 15 geese. The collar codes were: A5C5; A4C5 and A4C8.

Day 3 - Wednesday, January 16^th

A day spent at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science with Tracey and James. This museum has some very impressive wildlife dioramas, numerous dinosaurs on display and extensive space sciences exhibits. James was fascinated by the Phoenix Mars Mission now on its way to the planet. There was a replica of the landing craft in the Morrison Atrium and James watched the NASA video of this mission several times over

Wolves. One of the best of the dioramas in my opinion

Mountain Goats and a Gyrfalcon

A much less satisfactory effort; not a very convincing pose for a displaying Superb Lyrebird and the King Parrots and Crimson Rosella in the background (not visible here) were terribly faded

Another unsatisfactory pose but this time of Royal Albatross on Campbell Island.
Wing posture is totally unrealistic, including that of the flying bird in the mural

I didn't realize that Pink-eared Ducks could be so large! An Edmontosaurus.
What an incredible anatomical match except for the distal nasal orifices- if that is what they are

James in the Dinosaur gallery

A gazelle-like camelid!

The Phoenix Mars mission landing module


James taking in the NASA video describing the Phoenix mission to Mars

T. Rex on the prowl in the foyer!

Mr Bones.
The terrible T. Rex prowling the foyer of the Denver Museum to the amusement of the children!

Hoards of Canada Geese were grazing the lawns of the parkland surrounding the museum buildings, often coming extraordinarily close to their public! On the way home I saw a Raven and just about the only other birds seen today were Starling and a few gulls, presumably Ring-billed Gull, and a few Feral Pigeons about town! There really is very little to see most of the time.

Flocks of Canada Geese grazing outside the Denver Museum.
Some worn green coded neck collars but they were too far off to read without binoculars!

Day 4 - Thursday, January 17^th

James at the school gate

James at pre-school. He heads straight for the kitchen!

At 08:30 this morning we took James to his pre-school across the road and then Tracey and I went into town to have morning tea and coffee at the Tajikistan Dushanbe {doo-shan-bay}Tea House before visiting the Boulder Historical Museum. This tea house is a remarkable building. Dushanbe is the capital city of Tajikistan and the tea house was a gift organized by the mayor of Dushanbe in celebration of the link between that city and Boulder as sister cities. All the decorations for this building are in traditional styles and were created by artisans working from several cities in Tajikistan in the period 1987-90. The end products were then transported to Boulder.

In the Boulder Historical Museum I discovered an Edison disc player that was very similar to the machine in my own collection but with an oak wood cabinet in much better condition than mine. It did not seem to have a full collection of discs and had two drawers inside the front door for storing discs rather than storing them on a rack that is the layout of mine. It also had a patterned cloth backing to the fretwork front unlike the green baize that I have added in the restoration my machine, which I have the impression is not as tall as this one in Boulder. There was much in the museum about early life in Colorado; buffalo; gold mining and the settling of Boulder. All this was housed in a fine Victorian style building on the hill in the older part of Boulder.

The Edison disc player

After collecting James from school I took a walk with Alice, the dog, while Tracey and James went to the Sports Centre. It was bitterly cold (about 18F) and I found that 45 min. walking along part of the South Boulder Creek trail back to Baseline road was enough, especially because I was trying to take photographs with an increasingly cold camera! The good thing was that the 400D did not fail me but my fingers got numbingly cold. Groups of Canada Geese were seen either in the fields or flying overhead and some flocks of Mallard were doing much the same. Just about the only other birds observed included half a dozen American Crow squabbling about in the creek, which was now frozen, an American Kestrel, a male, first seen in hot pursuit of a rather nice Northern Shrike, a Northern Flicker, a few Feral Pigeon and, as usual, some Starling. Pretty depressing really apart from the shrike! Earlier today I had seen two Black-billed Magpie in the garden next door and I have some shots of the squirrels that daily come to the bird feeder in the back yard, much to Alice’s annoyance. These I take to be Eastern Fox Squirrel Sciurius niger despite their rather shaggy ear tips. They are too big and too rusty on the belly and throat to be Red Squirrel.

Eastern Fox Squirrel

Canada Geese

American Kestrel

Teazel

Day 5 -Friday, January 18^th

James reading about Space and contemplating the idea of an asteroid collision being linked to the extinction of dinosaurs!

A sluggish day for me. Light snow began to fall by mid afternoon. Early in the morning a Red Fox scurried across the back yard and shortly afterwards I saw a Townsend’s Solitaire in one of the large trees in the back garden and a Steller’s Jay. Not a lot to report from the rest of today. In the late afternoon I visited the University of Colorado Museum of Natural History with Tracey and James website: http://cumuseum.colorado.edu/

Triceratops skull

A Pterosaur

A sabre-toothed carnivor

A small but interesting museum with an excellent Paleontology hall showing off a small but quality collection of fossil material, including some good dinosaur pieces. Another gallery housed an old fashioned but traditional array of cabinet displays with stuffed birds and mammals along with specimens of reptiles and insects etc., mostly chosen to be relevant to the State of Colorado. The Anthropology Hall examines how Colorado University researchers work to understand the lives and traditions of Ancient Puebloan, Navajo, Zuni, and Hopi peoples in the American Southwest. An abundance of sandals, pottery, and tools are on display from archaeological sites, including Olsen-Chubbick, Yellowjacket, and Canyon de Chelley (from the website). Finally, I took a quick look at a special exhibition entitled “Temple of the Warriors. Rebuilding a Mayan Monument”. The following is from the museum website:

In 1924, a major restoration project began in the ancient Maya city of Chichén Itzá. A team assembled by the Carnegie Institution in Washington D.C. ventured into the jungles of the Yucatan to reconstruct the spectacular monument known as The Temple of the Warriors. Among the teams illustrious members were noted archeologists Ann and Earl Morris. Working side by side over 4 long field seasons, the couple helped make archeological history with their innovative work in reclaiming the great stone structure.

"…of all the places I have been and all the things I have seen, nothing exceeds in interest and romance the years I spent in the steaming Yucatan jungles where great white temples rise from tangled deep green forests." — Ann Morris

The project was documented from beginning to end, greatly expanding what was known of the Maya at the time. The magnificence of the site and thoughtful execution of the work can be seen in unique images from the University of Colorado Museum's historic collection of hand-painted glass lantern slides. The personal accounts of Ann and Earl in the exhibit help transport visitors to the site and daily life. They reveal the challenges and inspirations of working in the remote jungles of the Yucatan in the shadow of one of the greatest ancient civilizations found in the western hemisphere.

The task was enormous, the science was demanding and the results remain astounding.

By mid evening the snow was falling steadily and we might have a very white day tomorrow!

Day 6 - Saturday, January 19^th

Pre-school across the road. A short walk for James!

First thing today I took pictures in the snow! Overnight there was a good sprinkling of leaving a light cover that makes the surrounding landscapes crisp and photogenic.

Trees across the road

Front of the house

Back of the house

Snow sculpture in the fir tree

A panorama of the back garden at the Cherryvale Road house

Another view of the house front

View towards the Flatirons from South Boulder Creek Trail

Along the trail

More Teazel!

David and the dog on the South Boulder Creek Trail

Some of the high flying Canada Geese

I walk the first part of the South Boulder Creek trail with David and Alice the dog. Not much to see with respect to birds but I am a little surprised to see that on the ridge of high ground to the east, between Cherryvale road and the shore of Baseline Reservoir, a group of about 20 decoy Canada Geese, in sitting postures, set out along the skyline and at least two guns are preparing to shoot at any real geese stupid enough to think of pitching in! A few volleys are fired at an obviously ridiculous range when a small skein or two fly high overhead, honking loudly once shot at, but I see no hits!

In the afternoon we visit the Leanin’ Tree Museum of Western Art. As the blurb says this museum

“exhibits over 300 original paintings and bronze sculptures from the private collection of Edward P. Trumble, chairman and founder of Leanin’ Tree. Through the years, Trumble has traveled widely, meeting artists painting the great beauty and history of the American West, and collected their works. We invite you to come and view this magnificent private collection, unique in that it is the only major collection of privately held works of American Western art that is free and open to the public for viewing! Visit the museum on-line at www.LeaninTreeMuseum.com today!”

Bison, Horse, Jack Rabbit and Timber Wolf

Outside are some interesting sculptures and inside a large display of ‘western style’ paintings and sculptures depicting cowboy and Indian themes and the wild west. The company specializes in postcards printing and has done so very successfully since 1949, relying mainly on mail order in the first place. An odd but interesting experience. I did like several fine examples of wildlife art, in particular a picture of three elk at dawn with the condensation of their breath backlit by the early sunlight. A very well executed piece. Unfortunately, no photography was allowed in the galleries. We have a late afternoon tea at the Boulder Café on the way home.

On the way to the Leanin Tree Museum I realized that either side of the Diagonal freeway there were many Black-tailed Prairie Dog Cynomys ludovicianus 'towns'. Some were close by the roadside and many Prairie Dogs were visible standing beside their burrow mounds.

Day 7 - Sunday, January 20^th

Entrance to Denver Botanic Gardens

A bright and sunny day today. An American Robin and a Townsend’s Solitaire visit the pool in the back garden early today. David heads out to Chicago, Dublin and London over the next few days and Tracey, James and I go into Denver to have a look at the Denver Botanic Gardens. Very well worth a visit and beautifully laid out displays with a fine Tropical house including a cloud forest exhibit. Many orchids are in flower. The theme is worldwide but there is much from the local flora and from South America and also from south-east Asia particularly Borneo and the Philippines. Not a lot of Australian flora represented. Formal sections are very attractively presented and in summer the extensive water features must be impressive. Now they are more or less all frozen!

Inside the Tropical Conservatory

Calliandra sp

Inside the Cloud Forest Tree annex. Heaps of orchids in here!

Some spectacular orchids

Heliconium sp

An Arum Philodendron glaucophyllum

Hoya macgillivrayi

Shady Lane

Montane Garden

Water Garden features

Romantic Garden

View to the side of the Perennial walk

After leaving the gardens we go back to the area of park surrounding the Denver Museum and I get some reasonable shots of Canada Geese from the car window. Some flocks of these geese are so unconcerned that they walk the streets, graze the central reservations and are passed by pedestrians and cyclists as close as 2 metres from them! A bit different from the flocks in the fields near Cherryvale road and Baseline Reservoir that need to be wary.

Canada Geese outside East Denver High

Unconcerned Canada Geese!

Canada Geese grazing close to the kerb!

On the way to Denver and back I also realize that I had not spotted just how many Black-tailed Prairie Dog 'townships' were to be seen while driving the freeway. I must try to get some pictures of these creatures. Apparently, this species sometimes become dormant for short periods during cold weather but it does not hibernate as does the other living species, the White-tailed Prairie Dog Cynomys gunnisoni. It is the Black-tailed Prairie Dog with which the highly endangered Black-footed Ferret Mustela nigripes is closely associated. However, I believe the Black-footed Ferret does not now occur in any of these Boulder region 'towns' and has not yet been re-introduced.

The snow cover has by now almost returned to the condition I saw on arrival a week ago!

Colorado 2008 - week two

Boulder - Colorado - January 2008

Day 8 -Monday, January 21st

South Boulder Creek Trail from my GPS track displayed on Google Earth

Today my only outside activity was a brisk walk from the Sports Centre to the far southern end of the South Boulder Creek trail and then a walk from there back home. I had Alice the dog with me and the temperature was hovering at about minus (!) 12C but thankfully there was no wind. Some Canada Geese were seen on the way to the Sports Centre but the only other birds seen in the hour or so (mid morning) I was out walking was an American Crow that flew past and a few Mallard trying to find somewhere to settle and having to make do with a snowy bank on the side of a solidly frozen pond close to the bridge near the Sports Centre. I also heard a Northern Flicker but that was it! I set my GPS going for waypoint 21 at the southern end of the trail; waypoint 22 at the northern end and waypoint 23 for the front of the house. It took me 31 minutes, at a steady walk, to do the 2.4 km to the house. The elevation at the start was about 1638m and at the end about 1614m; giving a fall of about 24m along this stretch of the creek. The GPS plotting has a spurious short cut and dead end to the east of the trail that is not in the saved points but for some reason still comes across onto the Google Earth map.

Day 9 - Tuesday, January 22nd

A 'Dairy Prog' day amongst other things! Here are a few shots of an obliging Black-tailed Prairie Dog seen this morning in town on a small prairie dog town!

Black-tailed Prairie Dog in snow

Early today we visited a recycling yard at Boulder Junction, not far north of the Power Station. An amazing assortment of household and building supplies. Soon after we had left the yard to return to Boulder we found this Black-tailed Prairie Dog (see above) close to the road. This was at a small 'prairie dog town' opposite the enormous Power Station and on the inside of a bend in the road (63rd Street). Other Prairie Dogs were visible but they were all too far off for picture taking. Clouds of water vapour rising from the warm waters of the reservoir alongside the Power Station drifted off in the light breeze from the SE and had been freezing on the bushes and trees downwind. After morning coffee at the OZO cafe, Tracey and I call in to the Wild Bird Center of Boulder (http://shop.wbcboulder.com/main.sc). They had a remarkably good stock of books, mostly about birds but in particular the shop has a good supply of bird feed, bird feeders, nest-boxes and all sorts of other items useful for attracting birds to a suburban garden. Books covered birding in South America, NZ and Australia in addition to all the usual and some unexpected titles for the North American region. I thought the staff were very helpful. We were back home in time to collect James from pre-school at 11:30 and I stayed at home for the rest of the day. Today has been sunny and therefore most of the recent snowfalls have melted away.

Day 10 - Wednesday, January 23rd

Another day at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science and after lunch a visit to the Denver Zoo. James is always fascinated by the Space science exhibits and today we concentrated on them and the Discovery centre where he was happily amused for an hour or so! I wandered through some of the same galleries that I had been to before and we all made a quick visit to the Egyptian mummy hall after lunch and before going across to the zoo.

The huge Tyranosaurus rex in the foyer of the Denver Museum

Belly of one of the two monster Plesiosaurs hanging from the ceiling
in the entrance hall at the Denver Museum - An Elasmosaurus



Space Odyssey hall

Me thermal imaged





More examples of the dioramas from the Denver museum.
From the top: Grizzly Bear; North American Bison;
Pronghorn and Montague Island, Alaska

Is this real? Head of Trumpeter Swan - a very fine example of taxidermy


View of Denver CBD looking across the park from the museum



Modern example of painted mummy

Denver Zoo is well set up and has a number of good displays with an excellent Tropical Discovery hall with a wide range of reptiles, fish and some mammals on show, including some bats! These bats included a fruit-bat and a colony of Vampire bats. Bird World was another interesting hall with some unexpected species viewable in walk-through aviaries maintained at tropical temperatures. A surprise was to see some Micronesian Kingfisher Todiramphus c. cinnamominus, the subspecies from Guam now extinct in the wild. Many other interesting species were noted, included Chilean Tinamou Nothoprocta perdicaria, a Quetzel that I think was a Golden-headed Pharomachus auriceps, some Oropendola but I am not sure which species and there was a considerable size difference between at least two of them; Blue-crowned Motmot Momotus momota, Egyptian Plover Pluvianus aegyptius, Nicobar Pigeon Caloenas nicobarica, Inca Tern Larosterna inca, Lady Ross's Turaco Musophaga rossae, Hottentot Teal Anas hottentota, Baikal Teal Anas formosa, Ringed Teal Callonetta leucophrys and a presumed pair of Steller's Sea Eagle Haliaeetus pelagicus calling loudly at one time from within a reasonably large outside flight aviary. I have added a few images of some of these species and various others seen during our strolls around the zoo. I noted amongst some wild Canada Geese one bird with a green numbered neck collar identical to the type seen on Canada Geese a few days ago near Walden Pond. Amongst the masses of Mallard on the small ponds outside the Tropical Discovery Centre there was a male of each of the following: Redhead, Barrow's Goldeneye and Smew. Several big cats were active and included, other than those I was able to photograph, Jaguar, Asian Leopard, Snow Leopard and Serval. Large flocks of Canada Geese kept wheeling across the Zoo and I saw a flock of Red-winged Blackbirds.

Lioness


Banded Mongoose

Some Canada Goose studies

Drake American Wigeon

Massed Mallards.
Note that no ducks have marked tertials at this time.
Will they moult them before laying?

Emperor Goose


Polar Bear in profile and head-on

Arctic Fox


Snow Geese


Komodo Dragon/Monitor Varanus komodoensis


Siberian Tiger



Dall or White Sheep Ovis dalli


Indian Elephant


Steller's Sea-eagle

Jackass or Cape Penguins

Micronesian Kingfisher


Egyptian Plovers

Golden-headed Quetzel

White-eared Catbird

One of the Euphonia, probably Finsch's, E. finschi

Chilean Tinamou

Painted Stork

Another highlight for me was to find some wild rabbits in the zoo grounds. They were obviously Sylvilagus but whether they were Desert Cottontail S. auduboni or another species I am not absolutely sure. The ears seemed rather short and they were smallish animals and therefore, perhaps, Mountain Cottontail S. nuttalli but I doubt it. After all that species, as its name implies, should be back in the mountains not down here on the plains, even if it is the zoo! Perhaps the Desert Cottontail is smaller and shorter eared in Colorado.

Denver Zoo wild Cottontails; presumed to be Sylvilagus auduboni.

Day 11 - Thursday, January 24th

Walked the Dry Creek Trail this morning. Tracey dropped me off at the trail-head and I walked the full track then headed west on Baseline road passing alongside the Baseline Reservoir (Lake) and crossing Cherryvale into Dummit Drive and onto the continuation of Boulder Creek Trail. I walked north to the T junction at Old Tale road turning west to follow the outer perimeter of the golf course until I came to 55th street where I turned, retraced my route back to Dummit Drive and then headed home via Gapter road.

Start of Dry Creek trail

Prairie Dogs and their town

Panorama from the eastern shore of Baseline Lake



Along the south-eastern shoreline of Baseline lake


Returning up the eastern side of Dry Creek trail

Immediately south of the car park of Dry Creek Trail there is a substantial Prairie Dog 'town'. The 'Dairy Progs' are so accustomed to people and dogs that a reasonably close approach can be made. There is a multi-strand fence surrounding their territory so most dogs are kept out and most dog walkers behave responsibly. I took some more shots of the DPs then moved on past a fine American Kestrel. The major area of the Dry Creek reserve is for Prairie Dog and Prairie grassland conservation. The paths lead up to the eastern banks of the reservoir and from there excellent views of the Lake can be had along at least half of this shoreline. This means the Lake can be scanned from the SW off Cherryvale Road, from the north off Baseline road and also from the east from the Dry Creek Trail. The latter is best for morning and for being within 20 m of the water's edge.

Prairie Dogs again

American Kestrel

Red-winged Blackbird












More Prairie Dogs

Today there was not much on the Lake because it was solid frozen. It 'sang' to me. The sounds suggested there was water or gasses bubbling up under the ice. I don't know if water is entering the lake at his time of year or how it gets into this lake. Alternatively, it might have been rotting vegetation producing gases or possibly ice stresses being released. Flocks of Canada Geese were moving about in the area but none were coming onto the ice.

North-west corner of Baseline Lake from the roadside

On the return walk down the eastern side and along the course of a ditch I came upon a small flock of about 20-30 Red-winged Blackbird. One Red-tailed Hawk circled to the north. On the cycle path alongside the Golf Course I saw a fine Downy Woodpecker, easily identified by its short stubby bill despite not having any spots in its white outer tail feathers. There as also a Norther Flicker hereabouts at the same time. A small group of Black-capped Chickadee were detected by call and then seen well in Gapter Road almost at the end of the walk.

View west at the resumption of Bobolink trail from the end of Dummit Drive

Heading towards Old Tale road

Cycle path up the south side of the Golf Course

Flatirons Golf Course

Ditch alongside this cycle path draining to South Boulder Creek

Splendid Cottonwood tree on Golf Course

The ditch again

Downy Woodpecker - stubby bill is diagnostic

Black-billed Magpie were seen as singles several times and I noted the feeble call they give - so unlike the explosive chatter of the Eurasian Magpie. At the junction of Boulder Trail where it follows into Old Tale road, I came onto a House Finch or two, one of which was trying out some song, and a small flock of American Goldfinch; all of the latter still in winter plumage, which of course slightly confused me at first. Altogether a good walk but further emphasising the low numbers of individuals to be seen at this time of the year. Old Tale Road was a relative hot spot!

Dushanbe Tea House in Boulder

High tea this afternoon at Dushenbe Tea House. This time I had the camera with me and took some shots of this extraordinary building and its interior decor.

Some of the ceiling decorations in the Dushanbe tea house

James at high tea - more accurately, playing with his fleet of airplanes

Day 12 - Friday, January 25th

A day off. I didn't leave the house today!

Antics of Eastern Fox Squirrel raiding the bird feeder


James in harsh light

Day 13 - Saturday, January 26th

Another walk to Baseline Lake or Reservoir, but this time with David, James and Alice the dog. We set off in the early afternoon from home and walked there and back more or less following the same track that I had done two days ago.

Eastern shore of Baseline Lake



Looking across Baseline Lake from the east side today

Canada Geese flighting in to Baseline Lake - another Peter Scott image!

Canada Geese on the melting Lake ice


Canada Geese flighting out to feeding grounds from Baseline lake

Ring-billed Gull

Dairy Progs as usual were very entertaining and some more pictures resulted! The ice on the lake was melting with pools of water forming on the surface in depressions that were deep enough for the loafing Canada Geese to swim in if they wished. Little else about except a few gulls out in the middle of the lake loafing. They were mostly Ring-billed Gull but a few Herring Gull were also present alongside them. Canada Geese coming and going on the lake. Towards late afternoon some were drifting off from the lake in small flocks to graze in paddocks to the south. This gave me a chance for some flight shots in good sunlight. Red-winged Blackbird seemed a little more obvious with several flocks seen including some later in the afternoon in a small patch of Bulrush (Typha or Great Reeedmace; or in American usage, Cattail) near the baseline road at the start of the trail. A distant Bald Eagle circling high to the north. A couple of thoughtless dog owners had let their small dog get through the wire fence near the trail head and it was madly running around the Prairie Dog town with little success as might be expected. However, it was stupid behaviour to let a dog loose in this manner and I am sure it must have constituted a state or federal offence! On the way back along Baseline road I could hear some House Finch but precious little else to note for today. It was sunny, calm and decidedly warm by comparison with days of last week.

Day 14 - Sunday, January 27th

I walked the dog, Alice, along the Bobolink trail alias South Boulder Creek Trail that I have written about already. I did its full length from the Boundary Road Trail head to South Boulder Road. Again, I GPS'ed this walk.

Signs on the Bobolink trail

View towards the Flatirons

Along the trail

East Boulder Community Center and Park


Angus cattle in the fields to the east of the trail at the southern end

Another good looking ditch

Southern end of the Bobolink trail at Table Mesa Drive

Heading back northwards along the trail with views towards the Flatirons

An attractive section of South Boulder Creek close to the trail

Much has changed in the landscape with the rapid melt of the past few days. By late afternoon today the temperature was 17C! Most of the day it has been sunny with occasionally light wind.
About all I scored the whole walk was a small party of Black-capped Chickadee, a Northern Flicker heard a few times and looking across to the Baseline Lake I could see Canada Geese on the ice and a few gulls, mostly Ring-Billed Gull I assumed. Canada Geese were not flying about as much as I have been seeing of late and they may now be using more frequently the fast thawing bodies of water for any daytime loafing. There was a Dark-eyed Junco along the ditch at the southern end of the trail and a few Mallard were seen in flight near the Sports Centre. That's it! A pretty miserable list of species and a low overall abundance of birds.

Northern Flicker in the garden



First birds seen at the newly refilled feeder! House Finch

Eurasian Starling in garden

We go into Boulder to the Boulder cafe for an early evening meal.

Boulder city centre

James at the Boulder Cafe

James between the split rock

Eastern Fox Squirrel again!

End of week two.

Colorado 2008 - week three

Walks from Cherryvale Road up to the end of week two

Boulder - Colorado - January 2008

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

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.

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!

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

Week three and last days in Colorado this trip

Day 20, Friday, February 1st

First thing today the American Robin was still about. It was again unearthing crab apples beside the driveway in the front garden.

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This morning Tracey, James and I set off for another visit to the zoo in Denver. It opens at 10:00am so it was not necessary to leave until about 09:30. We spent 4 hours wandering about those parts we did not get to see well the last time and we had lunch. James was again fascinated by the penguins. He wanted to revisit the bats at the Tropical Discovery hall and he enjoyed watching a crowded pond-full of waterfowl at the end of the day. I took some more pictures, mostly of subjects that I had not seen on the last visit. There were still many Canada Geese in the park and indeed also within the zoo grounds with the following additional collars noted amongst the later. All had green collars. A5E3; A4E0; A7E4 and A4E[3 possibly 7?]. I have photographs of them all but the last one is uncertain because neck feathers partly obscure the last number. Also seen today were wild Northern Pintail, Northern Shoveler, 3-4 Hooded Merganser along with a few Mallard on Duck Lake in the Park but outside the zoo perimeter. There was a large number of Mallard, predominantly drakes, on three of the ponds within the zoo grounds. Again, I noted that none of the duck Mallard had marked tertials although most were showing signs of wing moult in that region. It seems to me that in the Mallard the duck has plain tertials while in basic plumage, assuming such a plumage is the pre-breeding feathering equivalent to the eclipse feathering of drakes. I am not sure this is the accepted interpretation given by most authorities but I would venture to say that they might have got it wrong. Whatever, it was clear today that duck tertials in these Mallard were plain coloured. Drake Mallard were uniformly immaculate. I suspect that ducks were about to acquire fully the alternate (breeding) plumage but were lagging some time behind the drakes in this respect. They would presumably acquire fresh body feathering as close as possible to the time of laying and incubating. At that time they also need to pluck feathers and down for nest lining. Some drake-to-drake interactions were seen (mainly introductory shakes and down-ups) and a little male display (including occasional grunt-whistles) was noted, mostly in response to inciting behaviour by a few of the ducks. Ducks called with decrescendo calls a few times and, on being alarmed, a wave of soft raahbs, uttered by drakes, would sweep through the flock. Speaking of responses, another amusing observation was that of the two Red-crowned Crane that seemed to bugle loudly, in typical crane tones, as a response to the equally loud bugling of two Trumpeter Swan; the later sounding awfully like the noise made by an old fashioned car horn - honk-honk!

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At the far southern end of the Baseline Lake, on the way home, we came across 30-40 American Crow in some cottonwood trees alongside Cherryvale Road. I had not seen that many together before on this trip.
Late this afternoon a surprising number of birds was seen in the back garden, mostly at the new bird feeders installed a day or so ago. At least 20+ House Finch, 5+ Dark-eyed Junco and a few Black-capped Chickadee came to the feeders and a Black-billed Magpie and a Norther Flicker also showed up. We are hoping that the Downy Woodpecker will soon make an appearance at one of the bird feeders! Fondue night at home!

Day 21, Saturday, February 2nd

A Black-capped Chickadee was very close to coming to the new feeder in the front garden early this morning. Three to four European Starling have started to feed on the crab apples as they thaw out of the small pile in the front garden - a pile so far only exploited by an American Robin (who was nowhere to be seen today). Otherwise, we saw Dark-eyed Junco and House Finch in the back yard and the House finches were again at the feeder. A Black-billed Magpie was seen and also this morning, for the first time, a Downy Woodpecker came in to the suet at the new feeder in the back garden.

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Later in the morning we drove up to Nederland in the mountains east of Boulder. We headed up to about 8000' along the Boulder Canyon Drive which is an extension of Arapahoe Avenue. We had lunch at a very odd cafe served by a 'confessed' web designer who was having difficulties coming to grips with serving in a cafe! She had three attempts to heat up a slice of pizza for me without toasting it to a frazzle! Almost nothing in the way of wild life seen except a possible jay in Nederland. Barker Lake alongside the town was solid frozen. Very light snow began to fall so we returned to Boulder and headed to the North Face Shop and a nearly toy store. Opposite was the Daphne's Cafe! The only addition in town was Feral Pigeon.

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I take a walk with Alice the dog in the late afternoon and during a hour or so walking the Bobolink trail southwards I certainly saw more biomass than of late. Lots of skeins of Canada Geese were blogging about. Often the geese were in pairs, even in the flocks, but more obviously as they passed as two birds together. They seemed more noisy than ever, honking loudly as they came overhead. Some 500-1000 birds must have been in the area late this afternoon. They were feeding in the fields or moving about from place to place. Also seen were several Northern Flicker, perhaps a total of four, a solitary Ring-billed Gull heading towards Baseline Lake, a Black-billed Magpie and several groups of Red-winged Blackbird. These blackbirds numbered all-up about 50 individuals with some starting to display by extending their red epaulettes while giving snippets of their scratchy song. A few were flying out into the fields with dense patches of Teazel and seemed to take up territorial advertising with as yet feeble song and display. I think at this stage in the season the wing coverts are not that fully developed nor fully coloured on these blackbirds. The other interesting thing to note was that European Starling seemed to form mixed flocks with the blackbirds. A Red-tailed Hawk and a pair of Mallard completed the list. A better tally of species and certainly more individuals than I have seen here recently.

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