As you may know, the South Platte River exits the mountains through Waterton Canyon -- just above Chatfield Reservoir southwest of Denver.
Because of construction work at Strontia Springs Dam, the canyon will be closed after January 31, 2011 -- and is not scheduled to re-open until January 1, 2012. So -- just an FYI. Most of the South Platte River is frozen over -- but there is still some open water. Spotted Towhee, Junco, Belted Kingfisher, Black-capped Chickadee and American Dipper were enjoyed. The road is mostly muddy or thinly packed with snow -- might be better to go earlier in the day before the road thaws. There is ongoing construction traffic in the canyon, but it's not overbearing. I hiked about 3.7 miles up the canyon road -- and met upon a nice friendly herd of Bighorn Sheep at about 2 miles up. Given the brief opening of the canyon to the public, I was surprised to see so many people in the canyon on a weekday (yesterday, 1/5/2011) -- but January is the only opportunity for the year! I also came across this bird -- web photos below: http://picasaweb.google.com/timshel40/WatertonCanyonColoradoJanuary52011# I have scoured my bird identification books and cannot identify this bird. It's probably obvious to many of you, but I'm still pretty new at this. Please email me privately if you can help me! Thanks! Ben Kemena Denver -- 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.
