A correction -- upon more careful review of my photos and after seeing what appeared to be the same bird again today, the Broad-winged Hawk was likely a juvenile Swainson's! Apologies for the misreport!
Elsewhere in west Arapahoe -- today (8/30), I had a Warbling Vireo & Wilson's Warbler in my Centennial yard. - Jared Del Rosso Centennial, CO On Tuesday, August 29, 2017 at 10:12:45 AM UTC-6, Jared Del Rosso wrote: > > Steve Altman, a friend of mine & birder from New York, and I did what I > call a “Big Enough Day” on Monday (8/28) in west Arapahoe County. We woke > early, birding several local hotspots within my three mile home circle. We > stopped when the midday heat put songbirds away. And we swung by deKoevend > park around sunset. In total, we finished with about 55 species, a nice > haul for the area. Had we not missed a few common enough birds – > White-breasted Nuthatch, Bushtit, Common Grackle, Great Blue Heron, > pelicans, Ring-billed Gull, HOUSE SPARROW(!?!?!) – we might have cleared 60. > > > > We started at Marjorie Perry Nature Preserve at sunrise, where we didn’t > hear any Great Horns, though they’ve been calling in the area over the past > few weeks. But a Lark Sparrow, walking on a gravel trail, was a good first > bird. Steve picked out four Blue-winged Teals on the southeastern pond. A > Spotted Sandpiper flew around that pond as well, favoring a downed log on > the edge of that pond that every migrant Spotted seems to favor. Around the > ponds were Common Yellowthroats, Wilson’s Warblers, Yellow Warblers, > Catbirds, and Western Kingbirds. > > > > The eastern side of the preserve was particularly birdy. Along a short > stretch of the High Line, we had Song Sparrows, Spotted Towhees, > Black-capped Chickadees, and House Finches foraging with a few migrants: > Wilson’s Warblers, a Western Tanager, and a Townsend’s Warbler. That last > bird was a lifer for Steve and my first in Arapahoe County. Soon after > watching those birds, Steve spotted three Yellow-headed Blackbirds flying > over. On the eastern edge, in a large, leafless tree, was a Broad-winged > Hawk. I’ve seen the bird flyover a few times in the Denver metro area; this > was my first actually hanging around. We didn’t see the bird do much, > though. At one point, looking back, we noticed its tree full of magpies. > When we worked our way back around to the tree, the bird appeared gone. > > > > Also at the preserve were at least three very active & very vocal Belted > Kingfishers. There were at least 6, possibly 8 hummers, only two of which > we identified (Broad-tails). We heard Red-breasted Nuthatches in a few > areas. > > > > Our next stop was Willow Spring Open Space, where a field of grasses and > rabbitbrush had a Sage Thrasher, Eastern Kingbird, and a Lark Bunting. It > turned out to be a good day for the kingbirds and buntings around west > Centennial. There was another Eastern Kingbird across the open space. At > our next stop – Holly Park – there was yet a third Eastern competing with > with two Western Kingbirds. Also at Holly Park was a flock of about seven > Lark Buntings. Four Clay-colored Sparrows were foraging with them. > > > > The day slowed from there. We went looking for ducks at Ketring Lake, > Blackmer Lake, and Cherry Knolls pond but found only four Wood Ducks at > Cherry Knolls. Two Olive-sided Flycatchers at Ketring were a nice > consolation. > > > > We called it quits around 2:00, returning only to deKoevend Park around > 7:00. deKoevend was filled with the most common fall visitors – athletes > and their fans. Around the South Suburban Ice Arena footbridge was a crowd > of parents half-watching lines of children doing fake pushups. A softball > league filled one of the baseball fields. Soccer and frisbee players filled > yet another field, near the Dry Creek, that is usually good for migrants. > Last night, it wasn’t. But a Common Nighthawk, my favorite bird and our > last new bird for the day, appeared from behind the trees lining the creek, > offering a few good views before it disappeared over the park. > > > > - Jared Del Rosso > > Centennial, CO > -- 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/632986cd-2900-4adf-8531-f28f7cdde94e%40googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
