Our birding adventures took us to Pueblo over the weekend. Pueblo is almost two hours south of Colorado and provides a very different habitat type than the Metro area and therefore there are many desert birds that don’t get this far north. We looked forward to birding in the area around Pueblo Reservoir. We were especially hoping to spot three rarities: Red-throated Loon, Dunlin and Great Black-backed Gull.
Pueblo Reservoir
When we arrived at Pueblo Reservoir just after sunrise it was 15 degrees.
First bird of the day, Mountain Bluebird . This was only one of the many Mountain Bluebirds we saw today.Yum! A berry! Another Bluebird the same color as the sky.Some of the many gulls loafing on the tires at Pueblo Reservoir. By looking through the hundreds of common gulls (Herring and Ring-billed Gulls) you can often find a few rarer species. This is the area where the Great Black-backed Gull hangs out so we were constantly on the lookout for him.One of the many Ring-billed Gulls which were definitely the most common species. This was the only California Gull we saw at the reservoir today. Although they are quite common in spring and fall, finding them in winter in Colorado can be difficult. You can also see a Herring gull in the background, sleeping, with pink legs.Hmmm. A Black-backed Gull, just not the right species. This is a Lesser Black-backed Gull, the smaller, yellow legged relative of the Great Black-backed Gull, who has dull pink legs.Gulls have an incredible ability to eat almost anything. The Lesser Black-backed has found a dead fish (?) on the shore of the lake.Finally! The Great Black-backed Gull, the largest gull species in the world!Time for a nap… It’s hard to see in this picture, but he towers over all other gulls.Another target bird, the Dunlin. Finding this small shore bird mixed in with the gull flock can be quite difficult. Thank you to the two other birders who pointed him out to us!If the Dunlin was behind the tires it would be almost impossible to spot him.After our luck with Gulls on the tires, we scoped the reservoir in search of the Red-throated Loon. Although this bird is a loon it is in fact a Pacific Loon. This is not the loon we were looking for.Another fun bird, a Horned Grebe.A Ground Squirrel on the shore of the lake.After scoping from every possible vantage point on the north and west sides of the lake we decided to check the grassland around the reservoir. One of the first birds we spotted was a Loggerhead Shrike perched in the distance.An American Goldfinch in the top of a willow tree. He is not in his bright yellow plumage during the winter months.A fearless Canyon Towhee. This is the only part of the state where this species can be found.
Valco Ponds
Valco Ponds are a group of ponds just downstream from Pueblo Reservoir.
Curve-billed Thrasher that was making a lot of noise in the bushes. They get their name from the way they thrash their bill through dead leaves on the ground looking for food.A male Red-breasted Merganser with some awesome hair.One of the smallest birds in Colorado, the Ruby-crowned Kinglet.A Belted Kingfisher hunting over the river.Yellow-rumped Warbler. You can see his yellow rump.One of two Killdeer foraging along the banks of the river.A female Eastern Bluebird was a pleasant surprise!And her mate, a male Eastern Bluebird not far away.A Bewick’s Wren skulking in the brush. The thorny Cholla cactus reminding us we are in a desert.
Pueblo Reservoir (Again)
In hopes of spotting our final target bird of the day we returned to Pueblo Reservoir.
Behind the Western Grebes you can see an extremely distant bird. Though it’s impossible to tell from this picture, it is a Red-throated Loon. We drove to the other side of the lake to get a better view of the bird, but because of bad glare from the setting sun we could not refind it.
What an awesome day of birding around Pueblo Reservoir. We found all three of our target birds and it turned out to be a super successful day!
Four days until school starts! We chased Denver metro rarities for two days, all within an hour of the house. Because of all the rare birds we had a couple of long days chasing them from sunrise to sunset.
For those of you who are curious, “rare birds” are birds that appear well outside their normal range (like ocean birds wandering inland or birds from east of the Mississippi showing up along the Rocky Mountains). Many birders want to expand their life list (total species ever seen). The easiest way to do this without traveling to other parts of the country is chasing local rarities. There is also something incredibly thrilling about spotting a super rare bird, for example an Arctic bird in Colorado.
January 2
Bear Creek Lake Park
We started our day looking for the Pacific Wren that has been at Bear Creek Lake Park for more than two weeks. This is a very special little bird. He is extremely rare in Colorado, representing the first record in Jefferson County. Certainly one of our metro rarities! Our experience today was quite different than when we saw him on Christmas Day. He was hiding in cattails near the river and would only sit in view for a second or two before disappearing back into the reeds. You can read more about our first time chasing the Pacific Wren here.
Pacific Wren in the willows along Bear Creek.Auto Focus was not my friend…Good picture of the Wren taken by Dad.Climbing through the reeds to photograph the Wren.Song Sparrow calling from the willows near the Wren.Downy Woodpecker in the woods as we looked for the Wren.
Morrison
After locating the Wren, we headed into the town of Morrison. A Golden-crowned Sparrow was seen at a private feeder in town. Although we waited for 45 minutes the sparrow refused to make an appearance. We did see other cool birds at the feeder.
Two Bushtits at the feeder, part of a noisy flock of about 15 of them. The larger bird is a Northern Flicker.Woodhouse’s Scrub-Jay. This bird is named after Samuel Washington Woodhouse. He was an American naturalist and explorer.One of two Golden Eagles circling over Morrison.Dark Morph Red-tailed Hawk.Look at that mohawk!! This horse was across the street from the feeders.Squirrel sleeping in his hole.
Chatfield State Park
Our next stop of the day was Chatfield Lake State Park. Our targets here were White-winged Scoter and Pacific Loon. Both birds have been here for almost a month. They are normally found on ocean waters and rarely appear inland.
Male White-winged Scoter. Look at that enormous bill!Distant Pacific Lo0n.Male Hooded Merganser.Look at the bills on those Northern Shovelers!
South Platte Reservoir
After seeing the rare bids at Chatfield, we went across the street to South Platte Reservoir. After scoping the reservoir for 30 minutes Dad spotted our target, a pair of Long-tailed Ducks.
Two distant Long-tailed Ducks.Unfortunately these ducks don’t have their namesake long tails which means they are either females or juveniles. Only adult males have the long tails. Dad celebrating after spotting the Long-tailed Ducks. After I scoped for 30 minutes Dad looked through the scope for 30 seconds and asked, “what are those white ducks with black eye patches?” He had found the ducks.Pied-billed Grebe.
Lake Arbor
As the sun began to sink behind the mountains, we arrived at Lake Arbor hoping to see the Brant that we saw a few weeks ago. This is another rare bird for the state of Colorado which we were hoping to see again. Despite scoping the hordes of Canada Geese, we could not find the Brant.
Large flock of Northern Shovelers in the water with Cackling Geese and Gulls on the ice behind them. No Brant.Common Merganser, one of three seen at lake Arbor.
January 3
Lake Arbor (again)
After our unsuccessful search for the Brant on the second of January we arrived at sunrise to try again, continuing our search for metro rarities. We were greeted by almost 2000 geese on the small unfrozen portion of the lake. After an hour of scoping we finally located the Brant. Within 15 minutes he flew away to forage in areas unknown.
Brant on the ice shelf.Can you spot the Brant in the flock of geese? Hint: look for the white necklace.
Unique Northern Shoveler feeding behavior.
Aurora Reservoir
Next we headed east. Our target bird was the Yellow-billed Loon at Aurora Reservoir. We walked along the entire east side of the reservoir (about four miles) and scoped from the west side. We found two Common Loons and a very distant Yellow-billed Loon. We were unable to photograph the Yellow-billed. A surprise bonus bird was a Red-necked Grebe, but again, the wind made it impossible to photograph.
Huge flock of Canadian and Cackling Geese at Aurora Reservoir.Greater White-fronted Goose mixed in with the Cackling Geese.One Ross’s Goose in a flock of Cackling Geese.Bald Eagle flew over the geese flock causing quite a commotion!American Kestrel.Finally a Loon. Not the right bird. A Common Loon sleeping.Horned Lark on the trail in front of us.He was unafraid of us. You can see the feathers on his head that give him his name.
As we drove home Mom spotted a Snow Goose in a flock of Canada Geese which was our sixth goose species of the day! Colorado normally only gets five species of geese (the Brant is rare) so seeing six in one day is quite unusual!
Awesome but very tiring couple days of chasing metro rarities!
Camera: Nikon COOLPIX P1000, SONY Cyber-shot DSC-HX200V
