All, On Saturday, May 16, 2020, I attempted my second cycling/green big day in Colorado. The weather was perfect, not too hot nor cold, migrants (and waterfowl!) were largely still around, and it didn’t get too windy! I lucked out and couldn’t have picked a better day, and fortunately it fell on a Saturday!
In May 2016, I did a cycling big day and tallied 103 species birding Deer Creek Canyon, South Valley Park (Jeff Co), Chatfield State Park, and vicinity (Jeff, Douglas, and Arapahoe Cos). This year, I took a similarly early start and route, but skipped Chatfield for parks like Robert Easton, Blue Heron Park, Harriman Lake, Marston Rez, etc. For those who don’t want to read gory details below, I’ll cut to the chase. I had amazing luck all day long and only missed a couple expected species (Osprey!). However, I got a lot of bonus birds, which are what I call the less likely and/or unexpected birds. This year I also managed fewer miles cycling than in 2016 (67 vs. 75), but got a whopping 123 species! Highlights include the big movement of Swainson’s Thrushes flying over predawn, a male Evening Grosbeak flyover at my dawn birding spot up Deer Creek Canyon, male Blackpoll Warbler at Harriman Lake, and 2 Great Egrets at S. Platte Rez, all Jefferson Co. Below are some fun details of the route, birds, and experiences for those interested. I left my house in Littleton at 315am and fortunately the storms had passed and roads were only wet in places. Yes, 315am because of owls, poorwills, and I need to ride everywhere and getting to elevation takes time! Riding in the dark is really nice and peaceful. I had a half dozen Common Poorwills calling at the Cathy Johnson Trail along Deer Creek Canyon (DCC) when I arrived about 345am. Common Poorwill was my 4th species as I already had Swainson’s Thrush, Gray Catbird, and Western Kingbird! After not finding owls other than Great Horned on the way up and missing Wilson’s Snipe at the Docmann wetlands at S Valley Park (wetland/marsh is pretty crummy this year, https://ebird.org/checklist/S69135056), I rode a few miles up DCC to the left turn to continue up South DCC Rd to the switchbacks. The left turn is where I got my first Cordilleran Flycatcher of the day at about 445am. My dawn spot was phenomenal again and it is a critical stop to get a lot of species that you cannot get otherwise on a cycling big day in this part of the state. Oddly, my only Common Raven of the day was here, but this is the weirdness of a big day. https://ebird.org/checklist/S69134970 Since I got all my targets at my dawn spot and Pygmy Nuthatches on a slow, REALLY COLD ride back down, I skipped side trips and went right to the Buckhorn Rd bridge on Deer Creek Canyon Rd where I found a sort of unexpected Red-eyed Vireo (just arrived that morning?), the nesting Eastern Phoebes (neither of which look like hybrids in contrast to the Chatfield Audubon Center and Platte Canyon Rez birds that appear to be all hybrids) and got a bunch of other targets. https://ebird.org/checklist/S69134927 On my way back up to S. Valley Park, I had another Eastern Phoebe singing on the side of the road at the bridge by the southern parking lot. I got a nice look at him as I slowly rode by. Oddly, I haven’t had an Eastern Phoebe at this spot since finding one there a couple days before my 2016 cycling big day. My wife brought the kids (and a hot breakfast and coffee!) at South Valley Park where I heard a Peregrine Falcon screaming somewhere overhead. I also got my only American Kestrel of the day. I left S. Valley Park with basically every target obtained, several bonus birds, and about 60 species by 815am! Robert Easton Park wasn’t very productive, but I got my only Lark Sparrow of the day. I then rolled past some marshes where I had a sweet Sora on the way to Blue Heron Park. Blue Heron Park was not originally on my itinerary, but per intel it made sense to stop by on the way to Harriman Lake. It was awesome! I got a bunch of waterfowl, my only American White Pelican, Black-crowned Night-Heron, and Belted Kingfisher of the day. A flock of 6 Western Tanagers literally dropped into the trees on the west side as I was watching some Yellow Warblers and a male tanager foraged in the grass about 6 ft away! https://ebird.org/checklist/S69147741 Harriman Lake Park was great and I got all targets with a suite of bonus species, incl. Eastern Kingbird (thanks to the nice ladies who told me they saw one on the north side), Virginia Rail, Blackpoll Warbler, and lingering/breeding (?) waterfowl, and Pied-billed Grebe and Am Coot. https://ebird.org/checklist/S69157642 After reluctantly leaving Harriman, I rode to Marston West and met Claire and Tom Hanson who brought me food and drink (yum!), and Rob Raker. Both brought scopes and a lot of encouragement. I picked up a half dozen species here, including 2 Common Loons, and got a nice morale boost to push onward as it was getting warm and I had already been out for 9 hours. https://ebird.org/checklist/S69165646 On the way around Marston I heard baby birds or maybe, just maybe, Cedar Waxwings, and I just had to turnaround. I almost didn’t loop back, but waxwings are tough to come by on a day like this. I’m glad I did as there were a half dozen Cedar Waxwings in blooming trees next to a parking lot! My luck was like this all day. Simply amazing. Centennial Park (Arapahoe Co) was not worth a stop at 230pm on a Saturday, but the S Platte River turned up a few targets, including Blue-winged Teal and Snowy Egret. I stopped and rested at Hudson Gardens and tallied my list for the day. I had about 112 species already! On a whim, I went to the Littleton Cemetery (Arapahoe Co) where David Suddjian recently had territorial Ruby-crowned Kinglets. I have never birded the cemetery and had no clue where the kinglets were, and it was 3pm and quite warm (maybe it was just me feeling hot and tired?). I held out little hope but thought it was worth a try. On the way, I got my only N Rough-winged Swallows for the day under the Sante Fe bridge at Lee Gulch (woo hoo!) and I almost immediately had two Ruby-Crowned Kinglets singing their little hearts out in the cemetery! I made a couple other unproductive stops and decided to ride to Ketring Park (Arapahoe Co) to not find the Eastern Screech Owl (didn’t actually expect it), but I checked out the lake and got Wood Duck and Bufflehead, and on my last scan I found a Ring-necked Duck! This gave me 12 species of waterfowl! I could now see reaching 120 species was possible as I have Osprey, American Dipper, and Rock Wren about nailed down, plus a couple others in play like Hooded Merganser and Common Yellowthroat (missed both). There is a Cooper’s Hawk nest around the corner from my house and the female is incubating, so that should be a slam dunk bonus to end the day. I rode down the S. Platte Greenway, made some very half-hearted stops and didn’t really feel like trying for birds anymore. Motivation was waning 13 hours into this thing. Then there were no Osprey at the platform at Cooley Lake. Boo! I stood in the shade for a few minutes looking around and gave up. I got the American Dippers under the 470 bridge though. I decided that I’m now 60 miles into this thing, so I might as well suffer riding up Chatfield Dam and get Rock Wren. Thank goodness that Rock Wren came up and about landed on my feet within a minute. Hard earned birds, but you just have to go for it on a day like this! At this point, I think I’m at 119 species for the day and the Cooper’s Hawk will be 120 and a GREAT way to end and phenomenal day. However, I still don’t have Turkey Vulture! I decide to take the longer way home and pass S. Platte Rez. I about crashed when I saw 2 Great Egrets flying north over the SW corner of the reservoir! These were my first for JeffCo as well! Sweet bonus. I slog home, looking at every Swainson’s Hawk and can’t turn any into a vulture. It’s crazy what you miss on a big day. I roll past the Cooper’s Hawk nest and the female is giving me the stink eye. Species 121! Still no vulture. The green day continues while I sit in my backyard and scarf down all the food in sight. About 6pm, I spot a TURKEY VULTURE overhead! 122! My 7 yr old confirmed the ID for me. I later do an official tally and realize I forgot to check Wild Turkey on my list, so my total is 123 species over 67 miles. Unbelievably successful day. I honestly didn’t think 115 was possible and there was just no way I could hit 120! It turns out we should have walked to Clement Park (Jefferson Co) after dinner as Savannah and Brewer’s Sparrows were continuing (and still are as of today, 19 May), and I had missed those on the day. Oh well. In the end, this new route was great, fewer miles, “easier” miles too (outside the 7 mile climb before dawn, but it’s really lovely in the middle of the night), more quality time birding, and the possibility for more species. Now if there had been ANY shorebirds other than Killdeer and Spotted Sandpipers…..next time. The big day added 17 birds to my green year list and brought my total to 166 species found by walking or riding my bike from the house, and yard birds. The only green year bird that I haven’t gotten away from my yard is, oddly, Golden Eagle (2 records!). I haven’t driven for birding since early March, and it’s been great! I have thoroughly enjoyed riding my bike a lot (and thus eating a ton of pizza), birding my local patch (Clement Park) and only walking and riding to find birds. This green year has been very satisfying in so many ways. Great green birding! Cheers, Scott Somershoe Littleton 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 cobirds+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/CAJmtx%2BX9oTjan4Gjq0_EAv-Bi3TyHMtX8hruUnrVgABYhJBWeA%40mail.gmail.com.
