Ken Caryl Valley area, JeffCo 9/25

[David Suddjian]

At dawn there was a family of Lesser Goldfinches in my yard with 2 new fledglings, begging and being fed. It was nice to see on September 25, but it is not late. I was impressed to see one of the juveniles holdings its own on a feeder amid an intensity of hungry Pine Siskins. A lot of siskins have been at my yard this late summer, with 100 or more daily for some weeks now.

After the drizzle subsided I checked along Massey Draw near my home (no public access). The cool cloudy conditions did not precipitate too much bird action but there were highlights: Least Flycatcher, Red-naped Sapsucker, and some movement of flocks of Western and Mountain Bluebirds flying over. Other migrants there were few: 4 Wilson's Warblers, 6 White-crowned Sparrows and 1 Brown Creeper.

I was back there later, under dry but moody afternoon skies, and enjoyed a memorable birding moment. I turned to look up, and there below the only break in the clouds, in the only struggling sun shaft, soared an adult Golden Eagle. Its brown shoulders and golden nape glowed in the light! And from above an adult Red-tail came to spar with it. And through the midst of that interaction there came 7 White-throated Swifts and 3 Violet-green Swallows. The swifts and swallows seemed to disappear into the gray, and the circling eagle remained under the watchful eye of the soaring Red-tail.

David Suddjian

Ken Caryl Valley

Littleton, CO