Birds at Roxborough State Park, Jefferson Co. on Tues, 9/9 and Mon Evening, 9/8

[KevyG...@aol.com]

A few birds of note from my hike on the Fountain Valley trail today, Sept 9, not including the usual suspects:

 

- I put up a flock of ?200? chipping sparrows on the west leg of the loop just north of the fork.  I glassed about 20, did not see anything but chippies.

 

- As I was glassing 2 Cooper's hawks circling above I noticed swarms of small birds far above them, silhouetted against the overcast.  Too small to see with the naked eye, I guessed by their general shape and behavior they may have been cliff swallows.  They were flying in disorganized patterns as if they were hunting insects, moving in a general northerly direction.  They covered a large area of the sky, perhaps a tenth of it, and I would guess there may have been thousands of them up there.

 

- A lone Swainson's hawk grabbed some air over the Dakota hogback and circled up to several hundred feet, then broke off and made a beeline due south.  I watched it till it disappeared from view, and I had a broad view of the sky.  I guess not all Swainson's migrate in flocks.

 

Monday evening the folks on the moonlight hike (Ha! dark as pitch with thick cloud cover) were serenaded by upwards of 4 poorwills.

 

Keep Smilin',

Kevin Corwin

west Centennial

Arapahoe County