Crossbills, Teller county

[Deborah Carstensen]

I don’t have anything unusual to report other than the unusual numbers a birds I saw hiking in Mueller state park today. It might simply be unusual because I wasn’t expecting to see many birds today.

I hiked on Outlook Ridge, a trail that starts near the visitor center.
Right as I started, there were a pygmy nuthatches and Canada Jays that were both a delight to see. There were lots of mountain and black capped chickadees, pine siskins,red breasted nuthatches and a downy woodpecker.
Last night about 3 AM there were owls hooting. It sounded a bit more like a flammulated owl than a sawhet to me but I wonder if the time elated owls have already migrated out.

I know that’s not a lot of birds, but it did seem that I was in amongst them for the whole 3.5 mile hike. Very nice for autumn!

Deb Carstensen, Arapahoe county
Sent from my iPhone