Now more than ever, the common birds (Arapahoe)

[Jared Del Rosso]

I await the return of Swainson's Hawks to my neighborhood. This usually happens in late-April. They signal something absolutely necessary to me right now: predictability and reliability. I hope, of course, for some uncommon, even rare songbird to pass through my yard in May. Or to spot something I shouldn't spot in a local park. But I find the desire for the uncommon or rare bird to be temperamental, and I find the actual arrival of one of those birds unpredictable. This year, then, I seek the Swainson's. They will arrive. They will circle Centennial, their crisp, high contrast wings immediately distinguishing them from the neighborhood Red-tails. They will hunt, perhaps nest. Then they will leave to arrive elsewhere as a sign. Only to return to us again.

On Sunday, I visited a very local park (Arapahoe County) that I know no one goes too, least of all birders. And why go (under normal conditions)? It's unremarkable, much smaller than other area parks that contain similar, richer habitat. I traipsed around, heard my FOY Common Grackle, did not enter that into eBird, and followed the park until it led me to another trailhead. I didn't expect to find myself where I found myself, but I was glad to be there. I wandered along a waterway and its riparian corridor. 

Only the most common birds, but: the most striking Red-tailed Hawk I've ever seen, richly and deeply colored, looking down at the water. (A dark Western, I think) Beneath it, chickadees, energetically foraging with no worry for the bird above it. Red-tails were all over the trail. A croaking Raven chased one. (This seems to be happening all over Centennial right now. From my yard, a day or two ago, I saw a Raven & Red-tailed ride the same thermal, each seeming to chase the other as the warming air took them as it took them.) Small accipiters--but not that small, so probably Coopers--kept passing by, remaining just beyond my ability to identify them. Along the water's edge, the indistinguishable remains of a small, but not that small, canine (fox?).  

On my way home: from somewhere, nearby but invisible, a Say's Phoebe called. Another common, reliable bird to welcome.

- Jared Del Rosso

Centennial, CO