Back from Colorado

My trip out to the Rocky Mountains for my family reunion was not as productive as I had hoped for my life list, but it was still a good birding experience. I added 8 species to my ABA list and 7 to my life list: Great-tailed Grackle (ABA), Swainson’s Hawk, Violet-green Swallow, Broad-tailed Hummingbird, Band-tailed Pigeon, Sage Thrasher, Scissor-tailed Flycatcher and Upland Sandpiper. Of these, only the swallow and hummingbird were birds I saw while out birding, and not as a drive-by while traveling – although I did get better looks at Swainson’s Hawks on the 4^th at Windy Gap Reservoir. The Sage Thrasher was sort of an iffy look at a rest stop as we were getting in the car but I’m about 98% certain that’s what the bird was. The Band-tailed Pigeons I saw weren’t cooperative either, as I had a very brief look at a pair flying away as we drove up the mountains on our first day, but luckily one of the species’ major diagnostic marks is best viewed on a bird flying away – the banded tail, which is what I saw on the birds. That field mark plus the habitat pretty much cinches the identification.

Violet-green Swallow - The only life bird I was able to get decent photos of!

One of the reasons I think I missed a lot of life birds, besides the fact I was doing family activities and only had an hour devoted to nothing but birding, was the fact that there was a lot of active logging of lodgepole pines at the YMCA ranch we were staying at. The logging was to remove trees killed by the pine beetle infestation, which is on track to eliminate 90% of the lodgepole pines in Grand County in two years. Considering that most of the forest in Grand County is lodgepole pine, this is a major disaster. To get an idea of the scope of the infestation, take a look at the picture of the mountain below. Normally, that mountain should look green but instead is rust-colored from all the dead trees.

Anyway, the logging at the ranch was concentrating on removing dead trees from the property as a fire prevention measure, which I am sure has driven out a lot of birds. Still, I had a lot of good birds at the ranch, including Violet-green Swallows, Red Crossbills, Mountain Bluebirds, Northern Goshawk, Spotted Sandpiper, Green-winged Teal, American Widgeon, Pine Siskin, Broad-tailed Hummingbird, and others.

"Red-shafted" Northern Flicker (note the dead pines in background)

Pine Siskin, Rocky Mountain National Park

Female Mountain Bluebird

We only spent a little time in Rocky Mountain National Park, and it wasn’t very birdy where we stopped, unfortunately. I did get some spectacular shots of some bull elk browsing at 12,000 feet, thought, and a good moose photo!

Bull Elk, Rocky Mountain National Park

Cow moose, Rocky Mountain National Park

All in all, it was a good trip, and just a taste of the birding that awaits me on future trips out there…

Going to Colorado for a couple of days

I'll be in Colorado from Wednesday night through Friday night attending a family reunion. The reunion is at the Winter Park Lodge in Winter Park, at an elevation of roughly 12,000 feet. Obviously, I'll be birding as much as I can in between reunion activities. This won't be much of a problem, since we have a free day on the third. A lot of folks are going white water rafting, but my wife and my dad and his partner will probably go up to Rocky Mountain National Park to do some sightseeing. This will be my wife's first visit to the mountains, too, so that's exciting. It's been a long time since I birdwatched in Colorado - actually, this will be my second time, and it will be my first as an experienced birder. The first time I was there was on a family vacation when I was about 15 and I saw a lot of great birds but I didn't actually go looking for them, only saw them as encountered randomly while sightseeing with the family. I'm fairly sure that I saw a white-tailed ptarmigan that time, but I want to see one this time to be 100% sure. I don't have it on my list right now.

I went and looked at my eBird list to see what I had entered for Colorado, based on photos and memory. There are only 5 birds: Golden Eagle, Clark's Nutcracker, Black-billed Magpie, American Dipper and Mountain Bluebird (although I'm sure there's other birds on there I just didn't add, like Dark-eyed Junco which I know we saw). I should add significantly to that list this time out. In addition, my ABA list is at 388 right now (ebird says 389, but that's because they don't seem to have a good ABA filter right now - Black-hooded Parakeet isn't on the official ABA list yet). I think there's an EXCELLENT chance of hitting 400 on this trip. This is due to the fact that besides spending 2 whole days in the Colorado mountains, we had to fly into Kansas City because of airfare costs instead of flying into Denver. So we have about a 12 hour trip to and from Winter Park that will take us across the Colorado and Kansas plains, givining me a good chance at birds like Swallow-tailed Flycatcher, Say's Phoebe, Swainson's Hawk, and Ferruginous Hawk. I'll basically be plastered to the minivan window, staring out at the plains the entire time, hoping for one of these birds, as well as starting my Kansas list . . . A birder is never bored on a long car trip!