A big thank you to Mary O'Connor who discovered a singing male White-eyed Vireo at 7 AM in a thicket near Big Dry Creek Trail. I visited the spot around 3 PM, and after 30 tense minutes, it began singing spontaneously, repeating the same phrase, "CHICK, a-bit-a WEIRRRD, CHICK," familiar to me from boyhood birding in Missouri. Then it would go silent for up to 10 minutes.
I finally saw it as it fed in a big chokecherry in the big hillside thicket. Directions are a bit different from the eBird directions from this morning. >From I-25, exit west on E. Dry Creek Road and drive west past S Quebec, past the Willow Creek crossing, and past S Holly Street. Soon after Holly, in a valley, E. Dry Creek, the Road, crosses Dry Creek, the Creek. Park on a nearby neighborhood street (S. Jackson St is a bit closer to where you want to be than S. Adams St). Find Big Dry Creek Trail on the east side of Dry Creek the Creek and walk south. In about 1/4 mile you will pass a big green trash container, and pass a wooden marker that says "1.75 miles" and then cross the first of two bridges. The Vireo was singing right at the first bridge and later from the huge thicket uphill to your right. To view that thicket from above, find a dirt footpath half way between the two bridges, which leads uphill to the right (west). The neighbors are welcoming and that path is on public land. Walk up to where the path squeezes between a wooden fence and a thicket. Find the red bird feeder. If you get to a gray metal electric box or the undeveloped hillside, you have gone a bit too far. Look and listen from near the feeder. Good luck and please report to CObirds if you find it. Joe Roller, Denver -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/CAJpZcUB4xvP2U5QX19Ad2yv4apuKkKQD-88LGqUEN28CAN0adw%40mail.gmail.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
