April 10, 2011
Good morning to all! On Saturday, April 9 the Wild Bird Center of Colorado Springs held its first bird walk of the season at Fountain Creek Nature Center and Regional Park. The weather was cool (in the upper 40’s / mid 50’s) with a slight overcast. A total of five people participated in the trip, with two people leaving about half-way through. We were at the park from about 7:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. While we did not see anything terribly unusual, we did see a wide variety of birds. The best birds of the day were the pair (male and female) of Northern Pintails, a Snowy Egret in flight, and a Great Horned Owl. In addition, a Northern Harrier surprised us by cruising low over one of the ponds. Spotting the Great Horned Owl was kind of funny. We had met a couple walking their dog along the Fountain Creek Regional Park trail who had moved to Colorado recently. They are birders and were exploring the area. We walked together for a little while when he noted a dead rabbit on a long horizontal branch of one of the cottonwood trees. While looking at, and chuckling at the incongruous sight, we spotted the owl sitting on a branch behind the rabbit. So, the moral of the story is …. If looking for owls, look for dead rabbits in trees? Here is the complete list of birds seen: Northern Pintail (one pair, male & female) Snowy Egret Great Horned Owl Northern Harrier Red Winged Blackbird White Crowned Sparrow European Starling Gadwall Killdeer American Wigeon Green-winged Teal Canada Goose Belted Kingfisher Blue Jay American Crow Great Blue Heron (saw at least six or seven) Black capped Chickadee Mourning Dove Eurasian Collared Dove Mallard (including one very, very dark - almost black - female) Northern Shoveler Cinnamon Teal (only one, but very striking male) Western Meadowlark House Finch Northern Flicker Downy Woodpecker American Robin Common Grackle Happy birding! 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.
