Never in all my born days: A pinyon jay overflying Lafayette, Boulder Co.

[Ted Floyd]

Hey, all.

With a group from the University of Denver, I was delighted to hear and then see a pinyon jay flying over near Waneka Lake, Lafayette, Boulder Co., early this Sat. afternoon, Oct. 15. The bird was headed due west, toward the foothills, as if to say, "I'm out here again on the Plains WHY?" The bird was my first Boulder Co. pinyon jay in 10+ years and the first I'd ever seen away from the foothills.

Nice day out there, especially in the early afternoon as a little weather system was coming in, dropping the temperature a bit and spreading some overcast. 50+ bird species for us, including an FOS cackling goose, 9 Wilson snipes, sharp-shinned and Cooper hawks, a late barn swallow, 4 American bushtits, 2 ruby-crowned kinglets, 1 red-breasted nuthatch, 3 Townsend solitaires, 1 cedar waxwing, 1 lesser goldfinch, 1 chipping sparrow, 1 tardy vesper sparrow, and a couple of Audubon warblers.

Ted Floyd
Lafayette, Boulder Co.

[Dan Zmolek]

Very cool sighting.

   I almost fell off my bike today when I encountered a raucous group of 7 Pinyon Jays hanging out in a small pine near the back road at Boulder Res.   They didn’t stay long though, the whole group took off high and due west, so Boulder Valley Ranch or perhaps even Crestview would be places to look for them now.   

I hope this trend continues for Pinyon Jays in Boulder; seeing the group like that certainly brought back pleasant memories of biking the White Rim trail in southern UT.    

Dan Zmolek

Gunbarrel