Yesterday morning (July 7) I explored in the northwest corner of Park County along County Road (CR) 64 and CR 68 in the Bailey region (plus some spur roads), and into Jefferson Co. along CR 68 to Wellington Lake and along some Pike NF roads for a bit near there.
Probably the best find was a female Blue Grosbeak in Park Co along CR 68 at Craig Creek. She was on a wire along the road amid a flurry of busy Brewer’s Blackbirds and I almost overlooked her. I had some nice looks while she perched on the wire, then she flew off upstream and went down into the extensive willows that are in the area. A female Wild Turkey with 5 large young was along CR 64, while a female Dusky Grouse with 4 mid-size young was along CR 68 (Jeffco). A small Great Blue Heron rookery was along the North Fork of the South Platte immediately downstream of Bailey, with at least 3 nests with large young and five other nests that appeared empty. A Northern Goshawk flew along CR 68 in Jeffco. Singleton Band-tailed Pigeons were at CR 64 in Park (calling) and CR 68 in Jeffco. Windy Peak Outdoor School in Jeffco along CR 68 had scads of hummers coming to some feeders, including abundant Broad-taileds, several Rufous, 1 Calliope and 1 Black-chinned. A Lewis’s Woodpecker was in a burned area along Pike NF Road 553. Red Crossbills were encountered in many spots in Ponderosa pines (most identified as Type 2, several others I didn’t hear or not well enough). 3 Evening Grosbeaks were in Park along CR 68, and 1 more was on the Jeffco side of the line. Wellington Lake had 21 Ruddy Ducks, 1 Osprey, along with some Mallards and Canada Geese and a Common Merg. Driving down Pleasant Park Run and High Grade Road toward Ken Caryl from Conifer I had 3 singing Ovenbirds along Pleasant Park Run (at spots I had not checked earlier this year), and 3 were singing along High Grade (2 perhaps repeats previously noted, but one in a new spot). The Pleasant Park Run were with Aspen, while the High Grade birds were in oak dominated areas with nice understory. David Suddjian Littleton -- 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 post to this group, send email to cobirds@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/CAGj6Rort6USbxhaRwhsOeFaryWo%2BJHrO32_%3D-CcJZKhSx30tNw%40mail.gmail.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
