Hi all, Finally, someone else got to see our Common Redpoll this morning (other than me!). I have only seen it 5x in two weeks, and today my wife got to see it too, when it visited us for about 3 minutes at 8.15am. As usual, no sooner did it arrive than it was gone again.
Other sightings locally in recent days include. Up to 110 Rosy Finches at Snowmass Ski area - mainly Browncaps, a few Graycrowns of both forms, but still no Blacks so far this winter. Also saw 4 White-tailed Ptarmigan there near the top of the Palmer lift, in the backcountry accessed via the gate. There was plenty of snow on the normally wind-blown top, and these four were briefly digging for seed and shoots in a small area where the rocks were showing through. It was blowing hard, with a bit of a ground blizzard going on, so didn't spot them. Also the American Marten (aka Pine Marten) has been frequenting the vicinity of the feeder at the top of the Elk Meadows magic carpet at Snowmass ski area. Seen every second day or so, the best time is early morning (9.15am or so). This area is readily accessible from the top of the Gondola which starts at 9am (foot passenger tickets are $26 - also valid on the Village Express chairlift which accesses Sam's Knob) Bird banding (mainly for Rosy Finches which get color bands in addition to the scientific aluminum band) is again taking place most Wednesdays from c11am to c3pm for the rest of the ski season at the Wine Cabin close to the top of Sam's Knob. The exception is St.Patrick's day when there will be no banding. Birds banded last Wednesday included Pine Grosbeak, Gray Jay, Mountain Chickadee and around 25 Rosy Finches. Yesterday there were 4 Barrow's Goldeneye (incl 1 adult drake) on the Fryingpan River about 5 miles east of Basalt in Eagle County. Also yesterday there were about 35 Barrow's Goldeneye on the Roaring Fork River just upstream of Aspen Glen, and below Coryell Ranch Ponds, viewed from CR109 (Garfield County). Good birding all Dick Filby Carbondale Co -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds". To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/cobirds?hl=en?hl=en Visit the CFO Website at: www.cfo-link.org
