I spent the morning outdoors today (11/1/2017) and encountered a few FOS birds. At Willow Spring Open Space (Centennial [Arapahoe Co.]), a Northern Shrike watched over the marsh and brush east of the Holly St. entrance. The bird was very active & vocal, in part, it seemed, due to a kestrel that chased it around. I'm not sure if the kestrel wanted the shrike, the shrike's perches, or the shrike's potential prey, but it was all a sight to see. I'd also never heard or watched a Northern Shrike vocalize, so that was an added bonus. In the portion of west-ish Arapahoe Co. that I bird -- east of the S. Platte and west of I-25 -- Willow Spring Open Space seems to be the best place to see these birds. Underneath these two birds were heaps of House Finches, Song Sparrows, an American Tree Sparrow, two Downies, some flickers, a meadowlark, magpies, Red-winged Blackbirds, American Goldfinches, and who knows what else.
A later stop at Marjorie Perry Nature Preserve in Greenwood Village netted me my first Brown Creeper of the fall. It was in a busy collection of cottonwoods with Black-capped Chickadees, White-breasted Nuthatches, and Red-breasted Nuthatches. There appeared to be a feeder nearby, but out of sight, as the two nuthatches kept creeping around with seeds in their bills. The preserve was otherwise quiet. Later, in my backyard, a flock of about 15 Cedar Waxwings took a high perch in a neighbor's tree. As I scanned the flock for other birds, the waxwings exploded at once out of the tree. A Merlin followed, but didn't appear to get any. - 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/145cef50-f6ab-4e07-ac28-23498015e7ad%40googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
