Ken Caryl Valley - Deer Creek area 5/2 to 5/4, JeffCo

[David Suddjian]

Today 5/4 a Harris's Sparrow was along Massey Draw (no public access), in the same general area as one about a week ago, so perhaps the same bird, although I missed it on intervening checks. Today it was singing quite a bit, which I enjoyed, as I have rarely heard this species sing on my other encounters. It is an odd, varied song. 

On 5/3 a White-throated Sparrow was in my front yard.

On 5/2 I visited many spots in my home patch of Ken Caryl - Deer Creek and managed to find 107 species. This included owling (4 species) and waterbirds at Hine Lake in Robert A. Easton Park. The 2 Burrowing Owls continued there. There were a lot of migrant landbirds in the trees near the parking lot at the southeast side of the park. 3 Yellow-headed Blackbirds flew over, and a Great-tailed Grackle was calling on the west side. The lakeshore had Least and Spotted Sandpipers, but I did not see the Western that had been seen there recently. Most of the dwindling number of ducks are Bufflehead and Lesser Scaup. Mann Reservoir at South Valley Park had several ducks and 2 Wilson's Phalaropes. Pairs of Eastern Phoebes continued at Deer Creek at Valley Road and at Buckhorn Road. The marsh near the south end of South Valley Park had 5 or so Wilson's Snipe, a Virginia Rail, and my FOS Black-headed Grosbeak was nearby. Migrant landbird variety was moderate at best, and mostly low numbers except for Yellow-rumped Warbler and Chipping Sparrow. I had my FOS Swainson's Thrush at Deer Creek.

I'm enjoying watching the progress of several pairs of nesting Cooper's Hawks. Most are still adding material to the nests (males mostly doing this) and I don't see much focused sitting yet. Some of the pairs are what appear to be 1-year old males paired with adult-appearing females. Quite a few females are rather pale underneath with washed out-looking barring compared to the brighter red barring on adult males. 

One nest is conveniently located in a pine near my home, where the nesting pair is easy to see (I saw them copulate today after the male added a stick), but the nest itself is hidden among the branches and needles.

David Suddjian

Ken Caryl Valley

Littleton, CO