Catching Up and California! and the Barr Lake Bird Fest!(in Sep)

Finally got internet in the new place! Left for vacation in California at the end of July and then came back and moved into a new apartment.  Apologies for the lack of postings.  But, I shall catch up on the wonderful trip I had to Cali!

We left the afternoon of the 20th of July for an eight day vacation to California. The trip was geared to see family so I knew I wouldn't get much birding in but planned to make the most of what time I had.  The good birds started shortly after we left Westminster.  A flock of Band-tailed Pigeons made an appearance in the mountains outside of Glenwood Springs, just a taste of the good birds that were yet to come.  Those were the best birds of the first day and we bunked down in Green River, Utah for the night.  The next day we headed out before sunup and were off, hoping to get to California by mid to late evening.  While driving through Richfield, UT, a brown bird all-of-a-sudden flew out in front of the vehicle and I hit it. I caught enough of a glimpse of it to be able to identify it as a California Quail when I got my bird book out at our breakfast stop.  First bird to add to my "hit with car" list.  The rest of the drive out was pretty uneventful birdwise, save for the rather large flock of House Sparrows that gathered around us as we shared our     In-N-Out french fries with them in Las Vegas.
Once we got to our first destination in Oceanside, CA, all I was able to add to the list was American Goldfinch, Anna's Hummingbird, and my all-time favorite, the Bushtit.  Birding proceeded rather slow for the next day, even when we visited Oceanside Beach.  Heerman's Gulls were out in force though, as well as some Western Gulls and a handful of Brown Pelicans.   The next day we left Oceanside for the likes of Disneyland, but just outside of Oceanside I picked up the one and only White-tailed Kite of the trip.  I was very happy to see this bird of prey as it is my all time favorite raptor.  Brown Pelicans floated along over the ocean, along with a few gulls but no other birds of note were spotted on this drive.
Disneyland was fun, yielding the expected assortment of House Sparrows, House Finch, Common Grackle, Mallard and European Starling, but it also delivered two rather nice birds in the Turkey Vulture(though I had seen these earlier in the trip, they were a nice bird to see at Disneyland) and a flock of three Great Egrets floating above the park.  Bushtits I soon found in the park, and they also proliferated the trees near our hotel, making me quite happy. The next day we packed up and headed to our final destination for the trip, Simi Valley.
We got into Simi Valley and after doing some visiting, headed off to the hotel.  I was pleasantly surprised again to find the trees around this hotel to be chock full of Bushtits! So for the three nights we were in Simi Valley, I always looked forward to returning to the hotel to see "my" Bushtits.  The following day, we made our way(after some begging on my part) to Rancho Simi Park, my ALL TIME favorite birding location, AND the location of my first ever birding excursion(way back when I was 14)! While the family went to have fun at the playground, I dragged the wife along to show her around my favoritest place on earth(Disneyland might be the happiest place on earth, but this is by far my favoritest!) and introduce her to the birds that got me into the hobby/passion I love so much now.  The usually assortment of Mallards, American Coot, Canada Geese, Rock Pigeon and feral waterfowl were making use of the small lake at the park. Though these are not really impressive birds, the shear numbers and how tame they are make it an interesting experience.  About a dozen Snowy Egrets(another one of my all time favorite birds) were roosting in the trees on one of the islands.  Eurasian-collared Doves were about, the first time I've ever seen them at the park.  Bushtits and some American Goldfinches were flitting through the trees, but this time I was unable to find any warblers.  The first Black Phoebe of the trip was soon found(love these birds too!) and a Costa's Hummingbird made an appearance as well.  I heard a chickadee like call and soon tracked down an Oak Titmouse foraging in a tree.  My wife and I both enjoyed watching a Snowy Egret forage in the canal behind the park, and a pair of Common Yellowthroats were foraging along the reeds and bushes as well.  Back in the park, I spotted a Spotted Dove roosting in a tree, only my second sighting of one of these birds and an Allen's Hummingbird went buzzing by as well(another second only sighting).  We spotted some turtles out on a log in the water, and a Double-crested Cormorant was seen as well, but our time to explore had unfortunately come to an end, and we headed out to do some more visiting.  While visiting with my grandma, the first Northern Mockingbird of the trip made an appearance, and two more were seen too. One of them started harassing an American Crow and put on a fun little show to watch.  After visiting for a couple hours, we headed out to Channel Islands harbor and beach for a little fun in the sun.  We walked around the harbor first and saw Heerman's Gulls, Western Gulls and Rock Pigeons, but then a Brandt's Cormorant made an appearance flying down the waterway.  After walking around for a little longer(the place has become a ghost town essentially), we headed out to the beach.  Some Forster's Terns, Brown Pelicans, Double-crested Cormorants and gulls were flying about.  I spent some time watching for other terns and see birds and found and photographed a tern that I couldn't identify, and since I had accidentally left my bird book at the hotel, would have to wait a while before I would be able to figure out what it was.  Another Brandt's Cormorant made an appearance, but no Pelagic Cormorants showed up.  Three small shorebirds flew out across the water but I was unable to get my binocs on them before they disappeared behind the breakwater.  Soon it was time to leave, this last location of birding for the trip, and head back to the hotel. A Red-shouldered Hawk made an appearance on the way back.  The Bushtits again greeted us when we arrived, a pleasant way to end the birding part of the California trip. After getting packed and ready for bed, I grabbed my camera and Kaufman Field Guide to figure out what that tern was that I saw.  After looking through my pics and studying the birds in the book, I was elated to discover it to be an Elegant Tern! This is a specialty bird for California and my 309th life bird! I had not been expecting to add a life bird on this trip so I was very excited about this bird. Great way to end the California trip!
The drive back to Colorado produced a Bald Eagle.  No other birds would be added to the list though. In total, I had seen 55 different bird species and added one bird to my life list.  I am really looking forward to the day I can return to California and bird there some more! For now though I am looking forward to two exciting birding events here in Colorado that are coming up next month!

EVENT 1:
The annual Barr Lake Birding Festival will be held September 8th this year.  It is great fun with many vendors, hawk rehabilitation groups, bird walks and birds to be seen! Last year my dad and I spotted 67 birds at the Festival, with about 75-80 species being seen in total.  There is a small State Parks fee that you have to pay, but this is definitely not to be missed! This is always the highlight of my birding year!

EVENT 2:
My dad and I will be leading a fourth and final(for the year) bird walk at Two Ponds NWR on September 22nd.  I will post the bird walk times when I get the rest of the information.  Dave Menough from Wild Birds Unlimited will be joining us and giving a presentation after the bird walk on how to choose binoculars.

Hope to see you all at both these events and happy birding!

An F-18 Raptor in Grand Junction.

Oceanside Pier at night.

A sand crab we dug up.

Western Gull at Oceanside Beach.

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A line of Brown Pelicans skimming the waters surface.

Heerman's Gull on sentry dutyl

Western Gull. 

A Mourning Dove nesting at my grandmother's house in Oceanside.

Attack of the Northern Mockingbird!

Feral geese at Rancho Simi Park. 

A feral duck.

American Coot.

Another feral duck.

Snowy Egrets 

Incoming!

The Oak Titmouse

Black Phoebe

Foraging Snowy Egret. I have this video up on my YouTube channel, BirdSpyFilms.

Looking over the lake.

"The Grove" as I call it.  Good place for warblers.

Another Heerman's Gull

Double-crested Cormorant overhead!

Impact! A tern just as it hit the water. Didn't get anything though.

Elegant Tern.

Up close with a Brown Pelican.

Birdwatching Class and Bird Walk

On Thursday the 12th, my dad and I lead a birdwatching class for children at the Majestic View Nature Center.  About 9 kids showed up with about the same number of parents.  The class included a lesson in how to use binoculars, identification of common Colorado birds, a short bird walk and finding neat birds in the bird books.

The kids trying out the binoculars.

My dad showing how to use the binoculars and going over some common Colorado birds.

Short bird walk by the lake.

On Saturday morning, my dad and I lead two bird walks for the children and anyone else who wanted to join in.  Three of the kids and their families came as well as a few other local birders.  Some of the species we saw included: Black-capped Chickadee, a female Wood Duck, Red-tailed Hawk, numerous Red-winged Blackbirds, Black-crowned Night-heron, Belted Kingfisher, Downy Woodpecker and a surprise, last minute appearance by a Cooper's Hawk as we and another family were about to leave the refuge. 

Here are some photos from the walks: 

Checking out Northern Flickers and Red-winged Blackbirds.

A posing Red-winged Blackbird.

American Robin enjoying choke cherries.

Looking for birds.

Checking out birds in the trees across a pond.

My dad explaining the flight characteristics of the American Goldfinch.

Scanning the western section of the refuge.

Female Red-winged Blackbird. Took me a good few minutes to find it.

A Red-tailed Hawk that flew directly overhead.

Common Grackle in the brush.

Black-capped Chickadee in the trees.

The Cooper's Hawk that made an appearance.

In other news, Joyce, a member of the Two Ponds board, went and lobbied at Senator Mark Udall's meeting to try to get funding for a nature center at the refuge! Hope it went well and if you want to, contact Senator Udall and support this effort!

Also...a male Calliope Hummingbird visited our feeder today! Along with the Broad-taileds that have established their territory here and the male Rufous Hummingbird that has come by recently and seems to be hanging around.

Hummingbirds Around the House

I would like to interrupt my Catching Up posts and do a post on the Broad-tailed Hummingbirds that hang around the house.  Let me start off by saying that I live up in the mountains of Colorado, Coal Creek Canyon to be exact, with my in-laws.  They own about a half acre of property with a few pine trees, open fields and lots of flowers.  We have one large hummingbird feeder that we hang, which draws the birds like a magnet.  There is one male who has establish his territory around our house, including our neighbors properties in his territory as well.  There are about two or three females that use the feeder as well, and sometimes the male will come zooming in to chase them out, but he usually doesn't mind letting them use the feeder.  If another male comes through though, he is hot on the others tail driving him from his territory.  The hummingbirds have become fairly used to our presence on the deck, which has made them not as skittish when I attempt photographic opportunities.  Here are just a few of the photos I have taken of these wonderful little birds. 

On another note, my dad and I are teaching a kids birdwatching class tonight at the Majestic View Nature Center! I am very excited and can't wait to pass along my passion for birds!

Happy birding y'all!

-Daniel-

Catching Up Pt 2

Happy July everyone! Hopefully the weather is cooler this month as to make birding more bearable.

Still catching up on the month of blogging I've missed. So...here we go!

THE BIG BIRDING WEEKEND Pt. 2

Alarms woke us up at 3:30am on Saturday, May 19th.  Our plan for the day was to get to Tamarack Ranch SWA before sunrise to listen to the dawn chorus.  Tamarack was our target birding spot for the trip.  We packed up the truck and headed out around 4am.  On the 40 minute drive from Sterling to Tamarack, my dad and I were treated to some nice views of lightning in a distant thunderstorm.  Taking a wrong turn at the exit, we back tracked to Tamarack and were off for another day of great birding.
We drove along one of the roads at Tamarack and listened to the great chorus of birds singing all around us. We heard Wild Turkey but were unable to track them down.  As daylight started to creep in, we saw Brown Thrasher again as well as many more Baltimore, Orchard and Bullock's Orioles.  Driving further along the road, we soon heard the pounding of a woodpecker and spotted a pair of Red-headed Woodpeckers working on some trees.   We ended up seeing about 6 different Red-headed Woodpeckers along this road.  We had a nice view of a not-too-distant thunder cloud, but thankfully the storm was moving east, away from us.  We were scanning the trees and all-of-a-sudden spotted a falcon like bird soaring over the field.  We both got glass on the bird and determined it to be too big for an American Kestrel and it didn't have the right markings either, but too small to be a Prairie or Peregrine Falcon.  We happily looked at each other and identified it as a Merlin.  I was very happy as I hadn't seen one in over two years.  We heard a familiar "peep"-ing sound and soon tracked it down to a few Bushtits hanging out in some trees.  Shortly thereafter we found a Gray Catbird.  We then headed off to explore the eastern part of Tamarack.
Heading out on the road to the eastern portion of Tamarack, we got our first Vesper's Sparrow of the trip. We headed down toward the hedgerows.  Birding the hedgerows(and there are many, along with good riparian and wooded forest on the other side of the road), I was keeping a sharp eye out for Red-bellied Woodpecker, my other target bird for the trip.  We picked up a Olive-sided Flycatcher, but otherwise birding was pretty slow.  I stuck my head out the window at one point to get a better view of the area as we drove, and a large woodpecker flew over my head and disappeared into the trees.  I knew it wasn't a Red-headed Woodpecker and it was too big and didn't have the right markings for a Downy Woodpecker. My dad and I raced to the trees to try to find the bird.  After 10 minutes of unsuccessful searching, I consulted a field guides(as my dad only caught a glimpse of the bird) and settled on making an identification, Red-bellied Woodpecker.  I was very ecstatic.  Life bird 304!  We decided to head out to Tamarack Pond as a lot of good birds had been reported there earlier in the week.  
As we pulled into Tamarack Pond, it was a little windy and looked like a storm was blowing in.  We got out and started to hike around the pond.  While scanning the pond at one point, a smaller wading bird took off and we were happy to find it to be a Green Heron.  We found more orioles and Brown Thrashers as we walked around the pond.  My dad soon told me to stop and listen, and a light whistling could be heard.  My dad soon found the source to be a small flock of Cedar Waxwings.  A nice bird to find.  I scanned the pond and found a Spotted Sandpaper along the shore.  The bird soon took off, circled the pond and then came in for a landing at a different spot on the shore.  My dad and a both burst out laughing when the sandpiper ended up doing a somersault-crash landing.  Never seen a bird botch a landing like that ever. A raptor soon got our attention and my dad and I yelled out at the same time "Broad-tailed Hawk!"  This was an awesome bird to find and one I wasn't even expecting to see!  Life bird 305 and a state bird for my dad.  It started raining about that time so my dad and I headed back to the truck.  We got in the truck and slowly started driving with windows down listening.   He soon stopped and stated he heard a Northern Bobwhite. I listened but was unable to hear the call he was hearing, even though he said he kept hearing it(turns out I was just hearing the "white!" part of the call, as I soon heard the identifying and namesake call). We got out to try to find the birds but were unable to.  This was life bird 306.  I soon got back in the truck, but my dad headed down to the fence to try one last time to locate the birds.  A LOUD "WHOOSH!" and a yelp from my dad got my attention and I turned just in time to see a rather large female Wild Turkey take off not three feet from in front of my dad, and my dad jumping upwards and backwards with hands flailing.  After we both collected ourselves(I from laughing, he from the fright), we watched the turkey as she paced nervously about 100 feet away.  We both concluded that she probably had a nest nearby.  
After nice birding at Tamarack, and that fun little encounter, we proceeded up to Jumbo SWA and Red Lion SWA.  We drove around Jumbo Res.  and picked up Blue Grosbeak.  Life bird 307.  We then continued on and went to Red Lion SWA.  
We got out at the parking lot and decided to follow one of the trails to a grove of trees below the damn of a small lake at the SWA.  It was fairly windy with light rain off and on, but the conditions weren't too bad.  The group of trees was pretty slow though we did pick up Yellow-rumped Warbler and locate a Hermit Thrush and Orchard Oriole. We followed the path to a blind overlooking a small group of ponds and were able to get some good views of Blue-winged Teal and Northern Shoveler.  We then decided to give the group of trees one last look over before heading to the truck.  In one of the thickets we saw a female Common Yellowthroat working the lower branches.  The weather then suddenly cleared up, with the wind dying down and sun coming out and rain stopping, and the birding got magical.  Within seconds, the thicket we were watching came alive.  A male Common Yellowthroat started foraging about,  and another Yellow-rumped Warbler came out too.   A beautifully colored warbler with a nice black and white facial pattern and yellow patch on the wings showed up.  My dad and I couldn't believe what we were seeing.  A Golden-winged Warbler. Not only was this life bird 308, it was also one of my all-time most wanted to see birds and a VERY rare bird to find in Colorado.  This bird is also a fairly uncommon bird out east as it has a limited range and is declining in numbers.  The birding in the thicket wasn't done yet, though.  Another warbler showed up and we identified it as a Tennessee Warbler.  A Hermit Thrush joined the action as well.  A male American Redstart came through too, and a Hammond's Flycatcher flew into the back of the thicket.  To top it off, a Ruby-crowned Kinglet showed up as well.  I've never experienced anything like this in my entire life of birding.  In the span of 5 minutes or less, 10 different birds(including Red-winged and Brewer's Blackbirds) including 5 different warblers, filtered through one little thicket.  The weather then got sour again and the birding died down tremendously.  We headed back up to the truck amazed at what we had just witnessed, and in a state of fascination and disbelief that we had just seen a Golden-winged Warbler.
We decided to go to Duck Creek SWA before heading back home.   Along the way, we passed by some prairie ponds and picked up Redhead, Short-billed Dowitcher, Wilson's Phalarope and Northern Pintail. We also saw a large flock of White-faced Ibis'.  Arriving at Duck Creek SWA, it looked very unassuming.  We picked up Rock Wren right off the bat.  We walked along one of the treelines and located yet another Hermit Thrush.  We decided to head up to a dirt road boarding a creek at the west end of the SWA.  A few swallows and sparrows were about, including a couple Brewer's Sparrows.  We were on the lookout for Grasshopper and Field Sparrows, but were unable to find any.  We did find a sparrow that we couldn't quite identify.  We walked back to the truck, consulted some field guides, and identified it as a Clay-colored Sparrow.  We then decided that we should start heading home.
On the way home we made three short little birding stops to see if we couldn't tease out another bird or two.  The first stop was at Lowell Ponds.  We walked around for about 15 minutes but were soon rained out.  We then headed up to Stearn's Lake.  The lake itself was quite, with only an American White Pelican and a Double-crested Cormorant.  The pond to the west wasn't very active either, but did produce a Semipalmated Plover, a nice addition to the list.  We then made our final stop at Baseline Lake.  A few Double-crested Cormorants were around, but we were looking for a couple good birds that had been seen there a few days earlier.  My dad spotted one of them pretty quickly.  A Common Loon was still hanging around on the lake.  A Red-throated Loon had been seen too, but we were unable to locate it.  We also saw a family of Bald Eagles soaring at the lake, which was a really cool site to see.  We finally decided that it was time to be home, and on our way to the house, we had on last hurrah when we spotted an American Raven.
All in all, we spent nearly 30 hours birding and drove hundreds of miles.  We had a trip total of 114 birds for two days.  We saw 78 birds the first day, and I ended the 19th with my second highest Big Day total to date, with 98 species.  I saw a total of 8 Life Birds and 9 State Birds.  It was one of my most fun and memorable birding experiences I've ever had.

Morning at Tamarack.

The storm cloud we were watching.

The Vulture House.  An abandoned building at Tamarack being taken over by three Turkey Vultures.

Birding at the wheel.

The lonely road. Heading east at Tamarack. 

Tamarack Pond.

Pushing through the trees and undergrowth searching for birds at Tamarack Pond.

The clouds that proliferated the sky all day in Northeastern Colorado.

I will have one more blog post coming up to catch up on everything I missed. 

Happy birding!

-Daniel-