RN Grebe: Chatfield. GC Sparrow: Red Rocks

[Steven Mlodinow]

Greetings All

Today, Cathy Sheeter and I started out at Red Rocks, with huge numbers of birds coming into seed Cathy spread out. I don't know what brand or mix she bought, but the birds nearly totally ignored what was already on the ground.

In any case, we had about 200 rosy-finches come in, breakdown being 20 Black, 40 Hepburn's, and the remainder "standard" Gray-crowned. We saw hundreds of juncos, some of which I still have to scratch my head over, but at least 3 GH x PS Juncos and the WW x PS Junco has returned. The GOLDEN-CROWNED SPARROW did its job and gave us nice views.

Chatfield is nearly solid ice, but in a small stretch of water near the n. boat ramp the RN GREBE remains. Also, in a small patch of water in the middle of Chatfield were 3 Western Grebes, and unless we have a sudden thaw, methinks they are destined to become eagle food.

Finally, we dropped in at Barr Lake. No sign of Red Fox Sparrow, but an American White Pelican remained in the small bit of open water. 

Good Birding

Steven Mlodinow

Longmont, CO

[Rob Parsons]

 Hi all,
 
I went up to Conifer with my, alas, non-birding family today (Dec. 26th).  It wasn't very birdy at high elevations, with a raven & Mountain Chickadee being the only species I saw, and a few more "usual suspects" (crows, magpies, a Red-tailed Hawk and Steller's Jay) lower down.  On the way back to Denver, however, I finagled a couple of all-too-brief visits to Red Rocks Park & Chatfield Reservoir.

 
It was about 11:00 when we got to Red Rocks and 15 minutes was about all I managed to get there.  I'd had visions of Rosy-Finch flocks dancing through my head, but nothing of that kind materialized. I think I must have seen the same two Gray-crowned Rosies Mike Henwood reported earlier, one each of "Hepburn's" & "interior" types.  I assumed I was too late in the morning, but after Mike's message concluded it simply wasn't meant to be today. I also had a great look at the Golden-crowned Sparrow.  There were quite a lot of birds, but nothing unusual or unreported recently. Unlike Norm Lewis, however, I *did* see a White-breasted Nuthatch.
 
It was just after 11:30 when I got to Chatfield.  Mostly scads of white-cheeked geese around the tiny bits of open water, along with several Bald Eagles on the ice & nearby trees.  I was grateful for their presence as they gave my non-birding companions something to look at. I did see both recently mentioned grebe species.  I was especially delighted with Red-necked Grebe, my sixth species of grebe for Colorado.  I did wonder if the Western Grebes' patch of open water was truly in Jefferson County, or whether that's Douglas--everything else I'm comfortable with calling Jefferson County birding. Any & all opinions welcomed!
 
Cheers,
 
Rob Parsons
Winnipeg, MB
CANADA
(but temporarily in unincorporated Arapahoe County for at least another 12 hours)