Pacific Wren at Grey Rock Trail, Larimer County

[Francis Commercon]

This morning I took a new birder out to Grey Rock Trail up the Poudre Canyon. In addition to a pair of AMERICAN DIPPERS clearly engaging in nest building activities where the trail crosses over the Poudre River, we found a skulking PACIFIC WREN along the summit trail, just where this trail first crosses the creek as you hike northward and upward. The habitat was of dense dead grasses and weeds and tangles of shrubs along the banks of the creek. The bird called loudly in agitation as we crossed the creek. I recorded its call with my iPhone and later confirmed that it was indeed a Pacific Wren (not Winter, because of higher and more terse notes). The compact little hazelnut-brown bird popped out into view and gave spectacular looks. Very faint eyeline, tiny stubby tail, ventral side just about as cinnamon brown as the dorsal side and definitely no white on the throat. It even sang two rounds of its gorgeous song up close! 

Its cousin, the Canyon Wren, sang loudly from a nearby cliff and a female Hairy Woodpecker knocked away at a burnt Ponderosa fervently. Pygmy Nuthatches squeaked and flitted about in the high pine boughs. A flock of Steller's Jays gave my hiking partner stunning views; a Townsend's Solitaire serenaded us from just up the hill.  And the sun shown strongly upon the land as the soil came alive with ants, spiders, wasps, and even a millipede. We are fortunate to have inherited such a marvelous world.

[David Wade]

Greetings birders,

On Saturday Nick Komar, Austin Hess and I joined forces to search for the Pacific Wren that Francis had found earlier in the week. After several hours of enjoyable searching, where we heard several Canyon Wrens sounding their cascading call and found at least 3 American Three-toed Woodpeckers, our team finally located the elusive little bugger! We were strung out on the trail heading down when Nick and Austin heard a sharp "csik csik" coming from the small creek down below the trail. I never heard it but fortunately, I was in the best position to get close to the stream and did so, close to where Austin thought it might be. After a few minutes Nick finally spotted it and I was able to capture some good pictures of it... go team!

For those interested in searching, concentrate on the small creek that flanks the Summit Trail on the right as  you climb up towards Greyrock. The trail crosses this small stream twice, lower on the trail and in the place Francis described. I would recommend searching this section of the creek. We found it downstream of the area Francis described. Thanks and Good luck,

David Wade
Ft Collins, CO