Teller County - Manitou Lake - Record Breaking Day!!!

[Jeff J Jones]

Ok – this is not the record you expect.

 

I simply had the oddest day ever at Manitou Lake and Trout Creek downstream of the dam – that I can ever remember having yesterday.

 

After three days (Fri-Sun) hitting the 50’s here in Teller County at the end of January, I decided to go see what was popping at Manitou Lake and Trout Creek.

 

I spent 1.5 hours at the lake and walked 500 yards downstream from the dam and back. It was gorgeous outside at 10am; about 46 degrees when I started.

 

I neither saw nor heard a single species of bird the entire time! Not even a raven crossing overhead; nor the usual bunch of crows bothering the ice fishermen on the lake; no song sparrows to be found along the creek or in the marsh; no lone mallard in the few open pieces of water on the creek; no misc sparrows feeding along the south-facing portion of the dam; no chickadees, juncos, nuthatches, tree sparrows, red-tailed hawks, rusty blackbirds, woodpeckers, dipper, NADA! I simply couldn’t turn up sight nor sound of a single species of bird while there.

 

I am pretty sure I have never encountered such a situation in 25+ years up here on a visit to Manitou Lake/Trout Creek at any time of the year or time-of-day. Even on the windiest, coldest, worst birding days of the year.

 

I looked for birds on the 5 mile drive back to my home; and only upon entering my neighborhood, did I see my first bird – a raven soaring overhead. (Edgar Allan Poe probably had something to say about this.)

 

Anyway – simply so remarkable – that I felt the need to post about it.

 

p.s. To add to that, I was in the hot tub earlier in the morning at my house, and had a cacophony of bird call/song to listen to. Flickers, white-breasted nuthatch, house finch, cassin’s finch all singing; while steller’s jays, magpies and all sort of other species chimed in with welcoming calls of their own. What an unexpected inconsistency.

Hopefully a little less than 5 months before ‘Kotter’ shows up on his perch over the hot tub, for his third year in a row, after his winter sojourn in more southerly climes.

 

Jeff J Jones

(jjo...@jonestc.com)

Teller County - 8500' - Montane Woodlands

 

[Rick]

Jeff -

In a funny sort of way, I really appreciate this post!  As much as I enjoy reading CoBirds postings of interesting, unusual, and rare birds, birding is just as often about striking out.  If it were predictable, it would lose its fun and challenge.  I have had many outings where I have seen few birds, or at least nothing of note.  I think reading CoBirds is often like watching the highlight reel of a sports event.  Yet, in reality, day to day birding can often be less thrilling.  I look at the other rewards too - fresh air, out in nature, exercise.

And one of my mottos is - If you go out in the field, you never know what you will see or encounter.  But if you don't go out, you are guaranteed to see nothing!

Thank for the post,

Rick Schroeder

Fort Collins

[Gary Koehn]

Jeff,

Thanks for your post.  I think you are touching on an experience we all have.  As a matter of fact I had a morning like yours at Manitou Lake in late December looking for the Rusty Blackbirds you reported there.  I totally struck out on any bird life, just as you did and did not report it which probably should have.  I kind of look at that kind of experience as valuable to give one an appreciation for the days when one sees 30 or 40 species during migration at the same place.  It also gives one the opportunity of experiencing what Thomas Merton, a favorite spiritual writer of mine, calls "the many moods of one good place", which Manitou Lake clearly is.

Maybe the Sandwich Tern and the Golden-winged Warbler will be back this summer.

Gary Koehn

Colorado Springs

Sent from my iPad

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