A particularly heavy travel schedule for work of late had become quite trying and tedious, with no time for birding during those trips. So as my third trip to Denver in 4 weeks came up, I decided to try to see if I could squeeze in at least a little time to fill some gaps in my CO statelist. With 266 birds on my CO list I don’t need too many regular birds, but I was hopeful that at least a few less common birds might be staked out in the greater Denver area. The CO listserve is a good one, including an updated statewide RBA every couple days with sightings separated by county. So as long as you know which counties are in your area, a little research on the listserve can be a big help in planning a statebirding trip to CO.
So I opened up the CO listserve and quickly saw that there were a number of potential statebirds being seen in and around Denver, and many had been present for some time. Now the question was whether I could have time to try for them. Based on my initial work plans it looked like I might have an entire morning free, along with a couple early morning hours on a second day. So I set up my plans to pursue 6 potential stakeout statebirds. During my free morning I would start at dawn in Fort Collins at a spot with both Redpolls (including a first state record for Hoary), then head south to Lower Hoffman Lake for Trumpeter Swans, then farther south to Valmont Reservoir for Tundra Swans. Then in my free early morning I would start at dawn at a Red Rocks Park feeder for a Golden-crowned Sparrow and then a quick stop at a marsh at the Wheatridge Greenbelt park for a Swamp Sparrow. All in all a very doable schedule.
When I arrived in Denver one of the first things that happened was my work schedule changed, and now my free morning was going to be consumed by meetings. Ugh! Hate it when work gets in the way of birding. So now I needed to rethink my schedule. That would mean there would be no chance to get up to Fort Collins for both redpolls, but there was a feeder in Wheatridge with a small flock of Common Redpolls that I could squeeze into a lunch break instead. And maybe I could get to the lakes with the Swans either at the end of a work day, or at dawn before work started. So maybe I could still squeeze in attempts for 5 targets.
As the first day’s work neared an end, it looked like we might be done at 4:30, and sunset was 5:10 so a 30-minute drive to try for the Trumpeters could be feasible, though with little time to spare for searching for the birds. As I left the office the light snow that was falling that afternoon was just ending, so I hit the highway and quickly got to Lower Hoffman Lake. But it was surrounded by a suburban subdivision, so it took me a few minutes to find access. When I finally got access to the lake, all I could see was ice. Had to be some open water somewhere. Eventually I found a different access point and saw some open water. Sure enough there was a Trumpeter Swan in with quite a number of dabbling and diving ducks. And as the light waned, large flocks of geese flew into the lake to roost on the ice. This included several Cackling Geese – one was calling as it flew in with the Canadas. This was my 12th state for Trumpeter Swan – aided by the big reintroduction program and their subsequent expanded breeding success.
Next my attention turned to the Tundra Swans. From the car I could see only a small portion of the reservoir, but no large white birds (just 3 large dark birds which were immature Bald Eagles). So I started to walk over toward the lake and soon found quite a bit of open water and a flock of Canada Geese. And then with a slightly different angle I found the flock of 12 Tundra Swans at the edge of the ice. After a quick walk back to the car I was able to drive to work with and got to my meeting with just a couple minutes to spare. Although my statebird map for Tundra Swan is a bit spotty, it’s pretty well filled in for the eastern and western migration and wintering populations.
The next target was the Redpoll flock coming to a feeder in Wheatridge. I only had a small window of time over lunch before having to go back to work, so I needed the redpolls to be pretty cooperative. After a quick MacDonald’s stop I arrived at the house, but there were no birds present. But luckily only 10 minutes later a mixed flock of finches flew into trees next door – Goldfinches, House Finches, and a couple Redpolls. Soon the flock dropped into the feeding station and was joined by 30 or more other finches. There were about 8 Common Redpolls in the flock, including one where the red pigment was replaced by orange. This bird was also quite pale, but had a light tan rump, and a couple dark undertail coverts. It was most likely just a Common Redpoll with some pigment issues. Although CO was my 13th state for this species, my statebird map is pretty spotty except in the Northeast.
The next morning I had 2 free daylight hours of birding time before heading to the airport. So I left the hotel before dawn to head to the beautiful Red Rocks Park, and specifically the Trading Post where a Golden-crowned Sparrow had been visiting a feeding station for most of the winter. It was 20 degrees and quite breezy when I arrived (I was definitely underdressed for that windchill) but there were many birds at the feeders. Most were juncos, and I counted 6 different races – Pink-sided, Oregon, Gray-headed, White-winged, Slate-colored, and Cassiar. It was quite a show. After about 15 minutes the Golden-crowned showed up (a nice adult bird), though it was only in view for about a minute before running back into the adjacent brush. I waited for another 45 minutes but it not reappear, so I guess I was lucky. By the way the “White-winged” Juncos were only my second in the west. I mention “in the west” because I had a junco at my feeder in Massachusetts a couple years ago that had white wingbars but I guess it was more likely an aberrant Slate-colored than a White-wing. That was my 5th state for Golden-crowned Sparrow, and my first as a rarity away from its normal range.
The last stop was the Wheatridge Greenbelt which is a linear suburban park along a river that flows through the Denver suburbs. There was a post from about 10 days earlier about a Swamp Sparrow in a cattail marsh, with very specific directions to the location. So although the post was a little old, I thought I’d give it a try in hopes that this was a wintering bird. I got to the park at about 8:30, and although the temperature was up to 25 degrees the wind had increased, so the wind chill was likely even lower. A short walk later I was at the cattail marsh where the sparrow had been spotted – everything was completely frozen and the wind was howling. But a Song Sparrow was chipping in the marsh so I had some hope. Swamp Sparrows can be very tape-responsive, and I had planned to bring along my MP-3 play and speakers. Unfortunately I forgot to pack them (doh!), so the night before I went to the Xeno Canto website and had picked out one recording of call notes and one of songs that I could play from my iPhone. I started to play the call note recording and almost instantly had the bird respond. The bird eventually appeared and gave me brief views before it went back to its hiding places in the frozen cattails. Luckily that only took a couple minutes because I was really getting cold. I’ve now picked up Swamp Sparrow in a number of western states as a rarity –maybe it’s easier to find as a rarity than other species. On the way back to the car I found a Snipe along the edge of the open water along the river – didn’t expect that one in January in Denver.
So that gave me 6 new statebirds, putting my CO state list at 272. Certainly was fun to be able to see so many of my target birds - plus finding a rarity - even though my birding time was so limited.
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