Pine Warbler & Others - Arapahoe Co.

[Jared Del Rosso]

This morning, I met Geoff Stacks at Dahlia Hollow Park in Cherry Hills Village (Arapahoe Co.) to bird the High Line Canal Trail. In January, the portion of the trail between the park and a small marsh proved birdy. It provided a Hermit Thrush, White-throated Sparrow, and Pygmy Nuthatches for the Denver (Urban) CBC. To others, but never me, it offered a Pine Warbler. Gregg Goodrich first spotted that bird on December 29 and Bez Bezuidenhout confirmed it with a good photo on the 31st. As far as I know (from eBird), the White-throated Sparrow and Pine Warbler were last seen on January 6. Presumably, the good people who've been maintaining a feeder in this area have been seeing both birds regularly, as, it turns out, these two birds are still around.

Geoff and I arrived around 7:30 and found the area overwhelming. Singing Spotted Towhees greeted us. We followed the sound of chipping Song Sparrows to two active juncos to the song of the White-throated Sparrow. The bird didn't quite have its full song down, but it's getting there. We struggled to actually see the bird -- which felt necessary, since it was a lifer for Geoff. The song went from brush in front of us to brush behind us. As it did, a large cottonwood behind the canal filled with Red-breasted Nuthatches, American Goldfinches, a Brown Creeper, and then, briefly, the Pine Warbler. I got a bad look and Geoff got some bad pictures. Neither of us was sure of what we saw and, as this was another lifer for Geoff and a state bird for me, we carried on looking for it.

As we did, the White-throated Sparrow showed, hopping up a small tree to find a perch to sing from. Geoff got his look. And then the Pine Warbler reappeared briefly, taking a perch in the open before diving into brush. Another brief and unsatisfying look. We spotted the two juncos there, but lost the warbler. Off scene, a flicker and White-breasted Nuthatch called. I thought I heard a Cooper's Hawk too.

We'd eventually get a good look at the warbler, which took a perch over the canal for 30 seconds or so before disappearing again. Satisfied, we walked down to the marsh to look for the Hermit Thrush. There, it was calling and invisible. But flying from one end of the marsh to the other and taking a good perch itself, the thrush led us to two active Mountain Chickadees and a flock of a dozen or so Bushtits.

We spent about an hour around the canal. Our list tallied 15 or so species of birds, but it felt like twice that.

From there, we headed to Blackmer Lake. There was a flock of Cackling near the entrance – the smallest of these geese that I’ve seen. Nothing too notable around the lake, though we did hear a scrub jay. These birds have been at nearly every hotspot in the Centennial / Greenwood Village area this winter.

That was it. Back home, I briefly saw the Lincoln’s Sparrow that arrived yesterday. Later, my wife and I took our dogs for a walk through deKoevend Park to the Streets of Southglenn Shopping Center. At the park, a Brown Creeper has been a regular in small pines near the ice arena footbridge. At Southglenn, a pair of ravens continues work on a nest.

- Jared Del Rosso
Centennial, CO