Ken Caryl Valley area note

[David Suddjian]

I found Cooper's Hawks very hard to come by in the Ken Caryl Valley area this past winter. Then by March 15 birds began to reappear in local breeding territories, returning from wherever it was they went to in the winter. By late March and early April observations of territorial birds and early-season nesting behavior have been frequent for me as I bird in the KC Valley area, where the species is a fairly common breeder. But it wasn't until April 14 that a pair returned that has nested in the immediate area of my house, displaying and calling right off. And today she was placing material on a new nest they had started within about 50 yards of last year's nest, atop an old squirrel nest foundation in a cottonwood. I was interested to note that, not only did most or all of the local pairs clearly not over winter, but that there was about a month delay between mid-March's seasonal return of territorial birds to the local area and the April 14 occupancy of the territory near my home. But once present, the pair has gotten right to business.

In other news, a White-throated Sparrow and Chipping Sparrow (my 1st of season) appeared at my Ken Caryl yard today. The first Broad-tailed Hummer of the year at my yard was April 13 (avg arrival for past 4 years was Apr 10).

A pair of Eastern Phoebes was back at the territory located at the confluence of Deer Creek and Docmann Gulch, at Deer Creek Canyon Road x Valley Road.

David Suddjian

Ken Caryl Valley

Littleton, CO