MY BIRDING BLOG

“It’s called BIRDING…..”  Steve Martin, The Big Year

I found myself searching for a new photography challenge. I was looking for something that really inspired me to get back to shooting several times a week. At first I had decided to try to photograph as many animals as possible, no matter how big or small. After a few hours of lying in the grass with uncooperative insects, I realized I needed a better project. Then one day while cleaning the Mattlantic Ocean (my coral reef tank), a movie came on my tv. My hands being in saltwater, I was in no position to change the channel, and that moment has led to this. The movie was The Big Year. A competition to see who can count the most birds in North America in a calendar year. Suddenly I realized what my photography project needed to be, see how many different species of bird I can find and photograph in my state. It combines my love of birds, my love of photography and my love of traveling to new places in beautiful Colorado. 511 different species of bird have been reportedly seen in CO. My goal is 256, half of all species ever seen here. Perhaps too lofty a goal ? I have a woefully underpowered lens for birding at only 300mm. So, a lot of my photos end up being unusable for show, but are good enough to get a positive ID. If I don’t get a photo that I can make a positive ID with, then it doesn’t count on my list. Some of the photos I’ll use here are not up to my standards, but I would rather share what I have seen then wait for the perfect quality photograph. Thanks for stopping by. Enjoy the birds.

JUNE 24

Walden, Arapaho NWR

NEW BIRDS. 62- Herring Gull. 63- Redhead. 64- Sandhill Crane. 65- Yellow-headed Blackbird. 66- Brewer’s Sparrow. 67- Gadwall. 68- American Avocet. 69- Lesser Scaup. 70- Ruddy Duck. 71- Eared Grebe. 72- Red-naped Sapsucker. 73- White-crowned Sparrow. 74- Canada Jay. 75- Dark-eyed Junco.

Walden Reservoir, Cowdrey Lake, Arapaho NWR, State Forest State Park

My first birding trip to the west side, over the Continental Divide. The Walden area was recommended to me by my friend Brian, someone who has dedicated his life to birds and their environmental needs. And it did not disappoint. 14 new species seen and photographed. I used the Colorado Birding Trail Guide and made 4 stops on the route. Walden itself was rough, at best. It appeared that the highlight of the town was a new dollar store. But I wasn’t there to go hang out in Walden. Walden Reservoir was wide open with almost zero cover around the lake, but the mountain range in the background in every direction was beautiful. A few miles north was Cowdrey Lake, which had some beautiful views, but little access. I saw my first Yellow-headed Blackbird there. The yellow and black contrast so nicely. Like most blackbirds they were not lacking in confidence and cared little about my presence. Next it was off to Arapaho NWR auto tour road. A paved road through the reserve stopping by several small ponds full of birds. There was an incredible diversity of birds in and around each pond. Last stop was State Forest State Park. Colorado naming at its best. It’s essentially a campground on a nice lake. I did get to see a Dark-eyed Junco and a Red-naped Sapsucker, so it was worth the time and entrance fee. Outside of Walden I saw a Sandhill Crane being harassed by a Red -winged Blackbird. What a large, majestic, foreign looking bird. Every fall 250,000 Sandhill Cranes gather at the Platte River in Nebraska. I bet that’s a sight to see.

 

JUNE 23

Barr Lake State Park

NEW BIRDS. 57- Western Grebe. 58- European Starling. 59- Orchard Oriole. 60- Blue-winged Teal. 61- Pied-billed Grebe.

Barr Lake State Park is known as the “birdiest” place around. Over 350 different species have been seen here. I was really excited about seeing and adding tons of new birds to my list. Now, before I express my disappointment I will say that in 3+ hours I saw over 30 different species, it just happened to be that I had already seen most of them a whole lot closer to home. Perhaps my expectations were a bit too high, but it just didn’t live up to what I had imagined. The sections of lakeside trail that actually ran along the lake were beautiful, but most of the trail runs along a dirty canal and the lake is not even viewable, not to mention hundreds of yards from the trail. Most of the area is considered a nature preserve so you can not leave the designated trails. Maybe a second trip is necessary to properly judge the park. There were SO MANY pelicans, hundreds if not thousands. They were everywhere. The American White Pelican is one of the largest birds in North America with a wingspan of 9 feet, yet they are incredibly graceful fliers, often flying in tight quarters while wheeling (flying in circles). During breeding seasons the adults grow a vertical plate from their upper bill, which apparently other pelicans find attractive, then they shed them later in the year.

 

JUNE 22

Kingfisher Point, Riverbend Natural Area

NEW BIRDS. 56- Black-crowned Night-heron

I decided to do some sunset birding at the two Ft Collins natural areas across the street from each other. I saw a huge Black-crowned Night-heron perched high in a tree overlooking a pond. They are such unique looking birds. They have developed into excellent night fish hunters in order to escape the competition during the day.

 

JUNE 17

Kingfisher Point Natural Area

NEW BIRDS. 54- Great Egret. 55- Killdeer

The search for a kingfisher…. The Kingfisher is a bird I have always wanted to see, but I have never been lucky enough to see it. I had an hour to kill so I figured a trip to Kingfisher Point would be a good place to look for one. I did see a bunch of Egrets, including a Great Egret. Also saw my first Killdeer this year. They get their name from the sound of their high pitch call. You know when the Killdeer is around. They have been know to flop around on the ground acting like they have a broken wing when a predator gets too close to their nest. The predator thinks it has an easy meal and goes for the Killdeer, only for it to fly away at the last second.

 

 

JUNE 14

7 Lakes Park, Loveland

NEW BIRDS. 51- Swainson’s Hawk. 52- American Coot. 53- Clark’s Grebe

A few blocks from home, but feels like a different environment entirely. Since it’s less than 5 minutes from my house I was able to get there before 6, and I got rewarded for my early start time. Only a few minutes into my walk a beautiful light morph Swainson’s came into view over the treetops being harassed by a pair of Grackles and a very bold Western Kingbird. Instead of putting up with the gang of angry little birds he decided to land on the pole right next to me. To my surprise there was already a dark morph Swainson’s sitting on the pole. Fun fact.., Swainson’s Hawks eat mostly small mammals all summer, but every fall they migrate all the way to Argentina to chase swarms of nomadic dragonflies.

 

JUNE 12

Riverbend Natural Area

NEW BIRDS. 46- Cedar Waxwing. 47- American Crow. 48- Snowy Egret. 49- Tree Swallow. 50- Yellow Warbler

Back to Riverbend Ponds again. This time it was an evening birding trip, while there were some birds around, there were far fewer than in the early mornings. I got to see one of my favorite non-raptors, the Cedar Waxwing. They are such a unique looking bird, with a cool hairdo. The one I saw today had more yellow than usual. The Waxwing is one of the few North American birds that can live mostly or even sometimes entirely on fruit. Occasionally the Cedar Waxwing will ingest fruit that has started to ferment and produce alcohol and they get intoxicated. While the thought of a drunk bird seems funny, it usually ends in death, so they try to avoid it. Maybe that’s why they are one of my favorite birds, we both realize that one night of drunken fun will most likely be our last.

 

JUNE 7

Bobcat Ridge

NEW BIRDS. 39- Turkey Vulture. 40- Broad-tailed Hummingbird. 41- Yellow-breasted Chat. 42- Lazuli Bunting. 43- Blue-gray Gnatcatcher. 44- Lesser Goldfinch. 45- Western Wood-Pewee.

I LOVE Bobcat Ridge. Definitely one of my favorite local hiking spots. Something about it that just gives it a wild feel, while only a few minutes outside Loveland. It has several distinct terrains, 15 miles of trails and tons of wildlife. I had fun chasing the Broad-tailed Hummingbird around, hoping he would land somewhere nearby. The Broad-tailed is only 3″ long, weighing in at a mighty 3.5 grams, or 1/8oz.  When the BTH hovers to catch insects they beat their wings 50 times per second. That’s 50 per SECOND, or only 20 milliseconds per wing beat. Perspective, the fastest human blink of an eyelid is 100 milliseconds, the average being around 200 milliseconds. The hummingbird can beat its wings 10 times before you can blink once. Go ahead and try to blink as fast as you can right now.. Also, the 3.5 gram bird needs to consume 7 calories per day. That’s 2 calories per gram of body weight. At that rate a 200lb human would need to consume 180,000 calories per day, or 575 McD’s cheeseburgers every day, or they would starve to death.

 

JUNE 1

Bobcat Ridge

NEW BIRDS.  35- Magpie. 36- Gray Flycatcher. 37- Common Nighthawk. 38- Lark Sparrow

Love this place. Sadly it closes at dusk. Decided to stay late for that amazing sunset. Thankfully the Park Ranger was understanding, as he was waiting for me so he could lock up the gates. One of the prettiest sunsets I have seen in a long time. The panorama sunset was shot with my iphone 11 max pro. The color came from lowering the highlight and whites levels a bit, not from saturation or over editing. For all the doubty doubtersons, I have a video taken a moment before sunset showing the dynamic colors and clouds. My bird spotter Hayden and I got to watch the mating display of the Common Nighthawk. At dusk, during the sunset show, a Nighthawk was flying in circles, getting crazy high up, only to come screaming straight down creating a booming sound with the wind rushing over his wing feathers, the entire time yelling out with a high pitch call. He would land near the female, call out, rock back and forth, the repeat the entire process. The hoops boys go through to get a females attention throughout all of nature is fascinating.

 

MAY 31

Rivers Edge Natural Area

NEW BIRDS. 34- Osprey

Close to home, lots of fishermen, some hidden nice spots, but overall not my kind of place. I saw an Osprey hunting the fishing ponds, a bunch of grackles, some pelicans soaring overhead and a Western Terrestrial Garter Snake. The Osprey is a unique hawk, in its own family. Like other raptors it has four toes with long talons, three facing forward and one facing the rear, but unlike other raptors the Osprey can rotate its outer forward facing toe to the rear, making it a fish catching specialist. Unfortunately for the Osprey, all its fancy footwork doesn’t help when the Bald Eagle sees him with a fish. Why go fishing when you can just steal the Osprey’s…

 

MAY 31

Riverbend Natural Area

NEW BIRDS. 26-  Eurasian Collared Dove. 27-  Bullocks Oriole. 28-  House Wren. 29- Brown-headed Cowbird. 30- Common Yellowthroat. 31- American Goldfinch. 32- Eastern Kingbird. 33- Cliff Swallow.

Birds…. 200+ species have been reportedly spotted here. There are a series of mining ponds connected by land bridges. It can be very nice early in the day, around sunrise, but gets really busy during the days. There is an abundance of Red-winged Blackbirds here. They are extremely agitated during mating season. The Red-winged pictured was sizing me up, after the photo he flew at my head and grabbed my ear. Way cool.  Also saw an Eastern Kingbird, Tyrannus tyrannus, a long distance traveler. In the summer they are widespread across the country keeping the insect population in check, but in winter they all migrate to South America where they live in large flocks in tropical jungles eating berries.

 

MAY 29

Backyard, 7 Lakes Park, Coyote Ridge

NEW BIRDS. 16- Bald Eagle. 17- Bushtit. 18- American White Pelican. 19- Double Crested Cormorant. 20- House Finch. 21- Western Meadowlark. 22- Say’s Phoebe. 23- Blue Grosbeak. 24- Spotted Towhee. 25- Western Kingbird

Birds and P-dogs. Coyote Ridge is the closest place to my house where you can hike. There is a nice little nature center (that I have never seen open) and a birding trail loop in the valley. The prairie dogs have made themselves comfortable there, in greater numbers than most places locally. I included the Blue Grosbeak, even though its terribly out of focus. It is too pretty of a bird to leave out. The Say’s Phoebe is an expert predator of winged insects. It’s diet consists of bees, wasps, winged ants, beetles, moths, grasshoppers and dragonflies. Occasionally they will eat spiders and millipedes. They cough up the indigestible insect parts as pellets. Say’s Phoebe nest under the eaves of porches in open country, which is where I found them at the nature center. The Bald Eagle and the House Finch were spotted from my backyard, while the Bushtit, Pelican and Cormorant were seen at 7 Lakes Park.

 

MAY 25

7 Lakes Park, Riverwalk, Loveland

NEW BIRDS. 1- Common Grackle. 2- Mourning Dove. 3- Red-tailed Hawk. 4- Great Blue Heron. 5- Red-winged Blackbird. 6- American Robin. 7- Blue Jay. 8- Song Sparrow. 9- Clay-colored Sparrow. 10- Canada Goose. 11- Black-capped Chickadee. 12- Barn Swallow. 13- Mallard. 14- Great Horned Owl. 15- Northern Flicker.

And it begins… Day 1 of my birding challenge. 7 Lakes Park is a happy, quiet little park that most people do not know of. It’s a free park that connects to Boyd Lake State Park. Save the $9 and still have access to both parks. After a productive morning at 7 Lakes, I ended the day at the Faces Bridge section of Riverwalk where I was lucky enough to have a close encounter with a Great Horned Owl. He payed no attention to me, he was too excited about being magnificent and crepuscular.  Excuse the quality of the photo, it was getting really dark for handheld telephoto. What a way to cap birding day #1. I have personally worked with injured Great Horned Owl and they are incredibly impressive animals. I have had the pleasure of having my thigh impaled by those talons through my jeans and had my finger in ones beak. They can see through your soul when they lock eyes with you up close. One of my favorite raptors, perhaps only behind the Ferruginous Hawk and an Eastern Screech Owl that did a dance on my foot, but that’s a different story…