Ken Caryl area and Littleton, 10-8 and 10/9

[David Suddjian]

There are still 3 Broad-tailed Hummingbirds at the feeders my yard this morning, in the snow at 30 degrees. I've had 3-4 Broad-taileds each of the last few days, so this is status quo. A hatch year White-throated Sparrow showed up briefly this morning, there was a fly over Cassin's Finch, and a Townsend's Solitaire has been singing down the street - a wonderful accent in the snow. 

Broad-tailed Hummingbird (sorry for the low light)
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Yesterday 10/8 I made a brief stop at 3:50 pm to check for White-throated Swifts at the Deer Creek spot during lovely conditions. There were about 17 swifts present at that time around the roost cliff, with a good deal of calling. There are a lot of junipers in that area, and I heard or saw 9 Townsend's Solitaires, and a Prairie Falcon flew by. At home yesterday there were 2 fly by Evening Grosbeaks and a pair of adult Golden Eagles soaring to the west. Golden Eagle is known to have nested at Ken Caryl Valley, but I infrequently see pairs. 

Also 10/8, I was interested to observe a pair of Common Ravens building a nest at Aspen Grove shopping center in Littleton off Santa Fe. I've added a picture below of one raven on the nest on a ledge under the eave of the Kirkland's store. Although ravens are regular year round in the City of Littleton, they are slightly spotty in their presence and I don't recall nesting evidence. Yesterday the very vocal pair was bringing sticks to the nest and repositioning sticks. Since the ledge and surrounding area are very clean, I think this is a new nest being built. I'll have to look up how odd it may or may not be for nest building in October, but I can't remember seeing that activity at this time.  

Common Raven at upper left, building a nest, Littleton

David Suddjian

Ken Caryl Valley

Littleton, CO
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