Yesterday I rode my bike up to the Brainard Lake gateway trailhead, then hiked up to, and around, Left Hand Reservoir in hopes of finding White-tailed Ptarmigan. The weather was close to ideal: temps around, or just below, freezing, wind gusts up to 15/20 mph mainly only right up at the reservoir, large gaps of beautiful blue sky, fresh snow, but snowshoes not necessary. Unfortunately, I didn’t come across any ptarmigan. I wonder if perhaps they were in amongst the pines, or maybe up higher on the windswept ridges. Or, maybe just very well camouflaged.
I found a flock of 5-6 Pine Grosbeaks at a feeder in lower Ward around 11:15 am, and a pair of Am. Three-toed Woodpeckers on the jeep road to Left Hand Res about a quarter mile up from the trailhead. Also had a flock of rosy finches (75-100) fly overhead around 12:15 about 1/2 mi up the Brainard Lake road from the Peak to Peak highway. They were coming from lower elevations heading up, so possible they were coming from Ward. I did not see any while in town however. Great day to be up there. Thomas Heinrich Boulder, CO [email protected] -- 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/E9125B99-2664-463C-9FD6-E15F65559028%40gmail.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
