COLORADO 2011: Into the Rockies

Day 2 / April 8 – We had a wonderful start to the morning when we visited Glenmere Lake in Greeley. We came to watch the Black-crowned Night-Heron rookery (above) in full swing which had many pairs attending to their nests, but our attention was turned to a Cooper’s Hawk calling. It turned out the Cooper’s had a nest across the road and it was the female signaling her mate. We watched her break a twig off a tree and take it to the nest which she was putting the finishing touches to. Next it was the males turn. Perched in an adjacent tree he hopped along a few branches before stopping to tear off a twig and take that to the nest. Once he had that in place he flew to the female and mounted her!

In the foothills of the Rocky Mountains overlooking Denver and the eastern plains, sits a wonderful park called Red Rocks, named after the color of the sandstone. We watched the feeders at the Trading Post where we got to see 4 subspecies of Dark-eyed Juncos – Slate-colored, Pink-sided, Oregon and Gray- headed, White-throated Sparrow, Western Scrub Jays, a singing Song Sparrow and several Spotted Towhees (above). A nice surprise was a Curve-billed Thrasher, a southwestern species which must be at the very northern limit of its range, here.

We walked to the top of the Red Rocks Amphitheater (above), which surely must be the greatest concert setting in this country. Overhead we were treated to a wonderful show of chattering White-throated Swifts, and the steep sided rocks provided a perfect nesting place for Peregrine which put on an aerial show for us. No sooner had Ron asked if Canyon Wren was a possibility here, one called. After locating it, we watched it fly up onto several ledges before it settled on one to continue serenading us with its gorgeous descending song.

It was a beautiful sunny day in the mid 50’s as we continued west into the Rockies. Our next stop was at Genesse Park where amongst the Ponderosa Pines we located a pair of Williamson’s Sapsuckers (above). There was little other activity with the exception of a small flock of Pygmy Nuthatches and a Brown Creeper that Vicky spotted.

For the afternoon we ascended to 11,990 feet at Loveland Pass (above). Though it was sunny, and as one would expect, 20 degrees cooler than Georgetown, some 3000 feet below, there were some wind gusts that made it tough for us to stand upright. The place was full of snowboarders, hikers and sightseers none of whom were slightly interested in what we were doing – looking for White-tailed Ptarmigan. In spite of two hours of intensive searching we came up short and decided to try again in the morning.

We finished the day looking for Northern Pygmy Owl without success. Our only consolation being the stunning scenery as we drove along narrow winding canyons and fast flowing streams, stands of evergreens and aspen and vistas of snow capped peaks.