PA Birders Depart Montrose

[Anne Woods or Charles Strehl]

Descending from Blue Mesa Reservoir to Montrose we encountered a greening landscape suggesting that spring is on its way.  Migrants are filtering in and we expect a swarm this weekend.  Still, we retreated from a snowshoe hike at Little Molas Lake today in a snowstorm to avoid the possibility of getting stuck at Red Mountain Pass. 

At Red Mountain Pass we again donned snowshoes and spotted a Northern Goshawk near the mine there.  Dropping into Ouray we found it sunny and warm. 

In the morning at Silverton we found a few dozen Brown-capped Rosy-Finches among Red-winged Blackbird, Brown-headed Cowbird, Brewer’s Blackbird, and House Sparrow at feeders along 14th Street on our way to notorious Blair Street.  We inspected the flock diligently and found no other species of Rosy-Finch.  There was no sign of sparrows, only Dark-eyed Juncos among the willows in the high country today.  American Robins and Ruby-crowned Kinglet, hearty birds, were singing in the aspen.

Yesterday, a tour of the Umcompgahre River from Montrose to Ouray yielded Wilson’s Warbler, Bullock’s Oriole, and swarms of Violet-green Swallow.  We saw these here for the first time this year on our arrival when they joined Northern Rough-winged and Bank Swallow at Chipeta Lake.  A Dusky Flyctcher and a couple of Great-tailed Grackle showed up there too and added to our Eastern Birders’ Year list.

Last evening we drove Ouray County Road 10 to the Uncompaghre National Forest Vista Point and then walked about one and one-half miles farther to the Nate Creek Trail-head over the partly snow-covered cart way.  There we enjoyed views of the Cimarron Ridge to the east and a fading sunset to the west.  We tooted but heard no owls on our descent.  We only excited a few American Robin and Yellow-rumped Warbler that retreated into the dusk after complaining briefly.  After dark was only silence.  Perhaps we will do better tomorrow night at Grand Mesa. 

Chuck Strehl

Biglerville PA