This morning at 10:45 I saw the 1st Winter Harris's Sparrow in the same reported area. Alas, the Tundra Swans are gone from Big Johnson.
On Nov 25, 6:37 am, [email protected] wrote: > November 25, 2010 > > Following an early closing at the office yesterday, I spent two hours at > Fountain Creek Nature Center & Regional Park enjoying the outdoors. While > watching a mixed flock of White-crowned Sparrows, a few Song Sparrows and > Juncoes, I saw a sparrow I had never seen before. What struck me was the > whiteness of the underside, the brownish head and the distinct black triangle > on the front. I watched and watched and compared to my Sibley's. Then, upon > getting home checked other field guides and photos on line. I've thought and > thought and I truly believe this was a 1st Winter Harris's Sparrow. It was > found in a very birdy section of the park (for yesterday): if you are heading > south on the Regional trail, where it splits at the waterfall of Fountain > Creek - if you go right you continue to head south on the Regional trail; if > you go left you pass through a gateway into the Nature Center area, where the > pond comes right up to the shoreline. There is a small pavilion there with > bike racks. This sparrow,with the others, was working the ground area near > the bike racks. I spent about 10 to 15 minutes watching all these little > birds, comparing the new one with the ones that I recognized. > > This particular part of the park was birdy yesterday - downy woodpecker, > black-capped chickadees, a brown creeper (which I watched for a while - > amazing how beautiful a little brown bird can be and how well it matches the > bark of the trees it forages on!), juncoes (slate-colored and oregon) and > white crowned sparrows. The ponds and creek offered a lot of waterfowl - > Canada geese, green winged teal, wood ducks, hooded mergansers, gadwalls, > lots of mallards (the males looking very handsome). Also a couple of belted > kingfishers and two great blue herons. I loved watching the hooded mergansers > - one small group of about six or seven birds dove in unison and ended up > popping up between a pair of gadwalls who looked a little surprises to have > these little guys popping up out of the water. > > Then, as I posted yesterday, after stopping for a hot chocolate at the > Starbucks in the Safeway at Fountain I swung by Big Johnson Reservoir and saw > five swans. Nick Moore replied to me and said he saw the swans at about 2:00 > p.m. yesterday and said they were Tundra Swans. There were other ducks out > there but I could not id them. > > Wishing everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving! > > Christine A. Bucher > Perched on the edge of Palmer Park, Colorado Springs -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group. 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.
