Dear Cobirders,
I headed up Mt. Audubon at Brainard Lake in Boulder County yesterday
to look for Ptarmigan. Along the trail up, we found one juvenile
Chipping Sparrow, many Townsend's Warblers, Yellow-rumped Warblers,
Wilson's Warblers, one Three-toed Woodpecker and other resident Spruce-
Fir forest birds. While poking around the tundra at the base of the
large snowfield on the east flank of Mt. Audubon, I was buzzed by a
juvenile Northern Goshawk. The Goshawk patrolled the basin, scaring
Pikas, Marmots and probably the Ptarmigan. After some time, an
American Kestrel appeared and started attacking the Goshawk eventually
driving it north, up and over the ridge into the Cony Lakes drainage.
A thorough search of the Willows from the snowfield south to the gully
that feeds the Mitchell Lakes yielded no Ptarmigan. If you venture
off-trail in this area, be aware that bushwhacking down to the
Mitchell Lakes requires more talus than most folks can stand. We
looked to Moose in the bogs, since they seem to be fairly regular on
this side of the divide now, but didn't see any. We did find a Long-
tailed Weasel, leaving me with just one last representative of the
Weasel family still to find in Boulder County (American Marten).
Cheers,
Walter Szeliga
Boulder, CO
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Colorado Field Ornithologists: http://www.cfo-link.org/
Colorado County Birding: http://www.coloradocountybirding.com/
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