Sedge Wren, Cottonwood Glen/Spring Creek Trail, Larimer County

[Brad Biggerstaff]

Still reeling from not going to Dixon this morning and seeing the American Redstart that Arvind found, I went to Cottonwood Glen/Spring Creek Trail in West Fort Collins at about 1:30 to see what warblers I might find (Yellow-Rumped).  No luck with rare warblers, however, I did happen upon a Sedge Wren.  The bird was in some tall, thick (sedge?) grasses right along the trail, in a marshy collection of water; the grasses transitioned into cattails away from the trail.  The bird was calling single-note "chat" calls, and I saw it pop up long enough to fire off some photos.  I stayed some 30 minutes, and it would continue to call occassionally (generally single notes), but it pretty much stayed down in the grasses.  I was able to get one shot that was a bit blurry but through the grasses that shows the back reasonably well. 

 

Link to all the photos (including very blurry ones) is here:

 

https://picasaweb.google.com/105742165113837247842/SedgeWrenSpringCanyonPark24Oct2013?authuser=0&feat=directlink

 

The location of this marshy collection area from the parking lot on the west side of the park:  walk along the bike/walking trail, past the first bridge (where the trail turns north), and the marshy section is then some 25-30 yards and on the west side of the trail.  The grasses were just some 10 feet off the trail, and the bird was occassionally just 10-15 feet from me (though down in the grass).

 

Brad Biggerstaff

Fort Collins

 

 

[quet...@comcast.net]

Great find, Brad. The wren was in the same spot at sundown. Hopefully it will stick around for others who search for it tomorrow. With weather moving in from the south, maybe it will stick around this weekend.

 

Nick Komar

Fort Collins, CO

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From: "Brad Biggerstaff" <eyepatc...@gmail.com>
To: cob...@googlegroups.com, "Brad Biggerstaff" <eyepatc...@gmail.com>
Sent: Thursday, October 24, 2013 2:49:08 PM
Subject: [cobirds] Sedge Wren, Cottonwood Glen/Spring Creek Trail, Larimer County

... I went to Cottonwood Glen/Spring Creek Trail in West Fort Collins at about 1:30 to see what warblers I might find (Yellow-Rumped).  No luck with rare warblers, however, I did happen upon a Sedge Wren.  The bird was in some tall, thick (sedge?) grasses right along the trail, in a marshy collection of water; the grasses transitioned into cattails away from the trail.  The bird was calling single-note "chat" calls, and I saw it pop up long enough to fire off some photos.  ...