Getting into the CBC Spirit (Arapahoe)

[Jared Del Rosso]

Since moving to Centennial (Arapahoe County) in 2016, I've conducted a makeshift winter count in my local birding circle. The circle, with a radius of three miles, is roughly centered on deKoevend Park, just north of University and Arapahoe, in Centennial. Because it's squeezed between the perimeters of the two Denver CBCs, most of it goes uncounted during the formal counts.

This year’s count yielded 45 species, mostly the most expected metro area birds.

Highlights…

• A skulking tan-striped White-throated Sparrow along the High Line Canal Trail near Kent Denver School. Took every effort to actually see the bird and even then only briefly.
• A briefly not skulking Hermit Thrush at Ketring Park in Littleton. Oddly, Hermit Thrushes are more commonly reported at the park in the winter than in spring or autumn.
• A massive Bald Eagle, possibly a female, on top of enormous transmission towers along Willow Spring Open Space. I’m used to seeing Red-tails up there. Unlike the Red-tails, the eagle filled the platform of the tower. I know Bald Eagles are common, perhaps even blasé to many birders. They’re not exactly uncommon in Centennial, but I only see them a few times a year around here.
• As always, Eastern Screech-Owls—two, along the High Line Canal Trail

Misses…

• Bushtits, not in the pinyon pines they like behind Trader Joe's in Greenwood Village
• Townsend’s Solitaires, not calling from the tops of pines and junipers.

Fittingly, a Townsend’s Solitaire, singing from a neighborhood pine, and a flock of Bushtits were the two first species I heard on a neighborhood walk this morning.

Also misses…

• Great Horned Owls, not calling alongside the Screech-Owls.
• Uncommon suburban pond and lawn waterfowl. No Snow Goose, Ross’s Goose, or Greater White-fronted Goose. No mergansers, Redheads, Canvasbacks, Wood Ducks.

Other notable sightings, mostly non-avian. Photographs of these are on my blog.

• Recent tree work on the High Line Canal seems to have displaced a Western Honey Bee colony. Despite the relatively cold and cloudy weather, they were active, perhaps simply to survive, along the trail.
• The remains of a Cooper’s / Sharp-shinned Hawk, including tail feathers and a clean skull.
• Orthotrichum moss growing on the base of a landscaping maple. Mosses on trees are fairly uncommon around Centennial (at least it seems to me), so this was a neat sight.
• A rock moss among a lovely spread of lichens on concrete at Willow Spring Open Space.

- Jared Del Rosso
Centennial, CO