June 9-11: highlights from Park, Gunnison, Hinsdale and Chaffee counties
David Suddjian
June 9
Park County
Lake George had quite a bit fewer waterbirds than my previous visit in late May, but still 1 Ring-necked Duck amid ruddies, Gadwall and coots. A male GREAT-TAILED GRACKLE was noteworthy.
A drive up and down Elevenmile Canyon (South Platte) with many stops was pretty birdy once the morning warmed up. Singing Gray Catbirds were in willow thickets at 6.5 and 9.4 miles in from Highway 24. A Lewis’s Woodpecker flew over the pine forest on the north side of the canyon at 8.9 miles in from Hwy 24. A Willow Flycatcher was at 9.8 miles in (end of the road). A female Wood Duck with 5 small ducklings at 3.7 miles was apparently a notable breeding record for Park County. She was in the same area where I’d seen a pair in late April. Also noted in the canyon were a Sharp-shinned Hawk, Peregrine Falcon, and several MacGillivray’s Warblers. White-throated Swifts were sparse on the way in (colder, still tucked in their crannies) but numerous on the way out (warmer then).
I was interested to watch the movement of commuting California Gulls. They are nesting (many 100s) on an island at Elevenmile Reservoir, and all morning I saw flocks flying down river from the reservoir, and earlier I’d seen them flying plains-ward high over down the canyon of Fountain Creek between Colorado Springs up to Woodland Park, I presume gulls coming from Elevenmile. I guess they were commuting to feed somewhere east of the mountains, over 40 km from the nesting colony. Anyone know their destination? Only some smallish numbers hang out in South Park to feed at the reservoirs and among cattle.
Park County Road (CR) 90 had a Lewis’s Woodpecker at 2.4 miles from the junction with CR 92.
Stops along Summit Road off Elkhorn Road east of Hartsel had Pinyon Jays at most stops, with over 50 jays tallied, and a few Red Crossbills.
Antero Reservoir (viewed from the shore southwest of the south boat launch) did not have too much, but there was a Great Egret and still 8 Redheads.
Gunnison County
A Sagebrush Sparrow was at Waunita Hot Springs Road. A Gray Catbird was along Tomichi Creek at CR 41.
I camped along Gunnison CR 26 (aka Lake City Cut-Off or Sapinero Cut-Off) just north of Highway 149, in the area where Jason recently mentioned Grace’s Warbler. Coincidentally, CR 26 is along the “Powderhorn” BBS route that I was to survey the next morning, so it was a convenient (and very pleasant) place to camp. This evening I heard 7-8 singing Grace’s Warblers, and it was the very first bird I heard when I got out of the car at the camp site, 0.75 miles north of Hwy 149. There were also a number of Red Crossbills there (Type 2), and Common Nighthawks were common in the evening.
June 10
Gunnison County
I tallied 5 Grace’s Warblers on BBS stops that were along CR 26 in the Ponderosa section north of Hwy 149, and later in the morning I checked some spur roads off CR 26 and found 12 more. I’d say I encountered a minimum of 24 singing Grace’s in the Ponderosa forest around the south end of CR 26 on June 9-11, and I only was in earshot of a limited portion of the habitat.
The highlight of the BBS route was two Sandhill Cranes (photo’d) in semi-flooded flooded pasture along Cebolla Creek at Powderhorn south of Hwy 149 between CR 29 and CR 27. They were best viewed from CR 29 about 0.4 mile south of Hwy 149. They were very rusty-colored. A Common Poorwill called before the survey began along CR 26 a few miles south of Highway 50. A pond at Powderhorn at CR 27 x CR 29 had Blue-winged Teal, Cinnamon Teal and a Green-winged Teal was in flooded pasture south of the pond. A Gray Catbird sang along Cebolla Creek near the pond.
At Blue Mesa Reservoir near Iola there were 4 Am. White Pelicans flying over (never landed, drifting west), and an adult California Gull. Neversink east of the reservoir had 2 Gray Catbirds.
Two singing Grace’s Warblers were along forest road 868 in the Narrow Grade Creek watershed in the Uncompagre NF just north of Hinsdale Co.
Hinsdale County
A female Rose-breasted Grosbeak was at Lake City near Gunnison St x Henson Creek.
Lake San Cristobal had: 1 adult Bald Eagle sitting on a beaver lodge, 1 singing Gray Catbird in the willow thickets at the upstream end, 1 adult California Gull, 1 calling Sora, 2 Western Grebes, 1 Green-winged Teal, 2 each Blue-winged and Cinnamon Teal, and some Gadwall. I think some of these are of note for Hinsdale in early June.
The rocky road to Cinnamon Pass at 12,600 feet was about all my Honda could take, but there were White-tailed Ptarmigan and Brown-capped Rosy-Finches near the pass.
June 11
Gunnison County
Gunnison CR 58 had 4-5 Grace’s Warblers; this is essentially just south of the habitat along CR 26 and is an extension of that forest. A Dusky Grouse was about 5 miles up CR 58.
The two Sandhill Cranes continued near Cebolla Creek.
An Osprey flew over the south shoreline of Blue Mesa Reservoir east of Iola.
Curecanti's Beaver Creek Picnic Area had a Gray Catbird.
Chaffee County
A detour through neighborhood streets of Poncha Springs revealed lots of Pinyon Jays in the yards there, with over 50 birds estimated.
Park County
Buffalo Springs Reservoir had 6 Redhead and 10 Lesser Scaup. 8 Pinyon Jays were on a sparsely woodd slope south of the reservoir.
2 Mountain Plovers flew over Elkhorn Road (CR 15) a couple miles from Highway 285.
Very windy (hard to open car doors!) so reservoir birding was poor. I can confirm that Spinney seemed to have hardly any water birds beyond some Canada Geese and a handful of pelicans.
David and Stephen Suddjian
Littleton, CO