Field Notes 6.23.12

 After a breakfast burrito in Monte Vista we headed north on Hwy. 285 to Russell Lakes State Wildlife Area. Upon our arrival we were teased by a small yellow bird with olive wings but its flitting and darting in the green leaves of the narrow leaf cottonwood trees that ring the parking area made a positive identification difficult.  After several minutes of chasing the warbler with our binoculars we moved on to Johnson Lake.

Near the beginning of the trail we saw a large brown bird, and then another, fly into the reeds. Its neck was pulled up against its shoulders like a heron in flight but because of the brown color we decided it was an American bittern. At the lake we saw two snowy egrets and a black-crowned night heron. The water held a ruddy duck (Diane’s favorite duck), American coots, gadwalls and mallards – all with their newly hatched babies. Two American avocets searched for food along the shallow shoreline.

Back at the parking we searched again for the little warbler and Diane got a good look at the dark cap of its head. She recognized it as a Wilson’s warbler and I concurred. A western wood peewee landed on a bare branch and let me have a good view of it.

We then headed up to Bonanza, a former mining district, northwest of Saguache. By then the weather was hot, dry and windy. We ate our picnic lunch but saw few birds so we headed back home down Hwy. 17. We saw some hawks and swallows along the way. When we started our birdwatching odyssey we knew that part of the adventure would be exploring the Valley as well as seeing birds. 

Field Notes 6.22.12 Volunteering

 We love birdwatching and being out in nature, whether on a high mountain pass or under a tree in our backyard.  We also want to do all we can to protect birds and the natural world. One way we have chosen to help is by volunteering with the Friends of the San Luis Valley National Wildlife Refuges.  At the Alamosa National Wildlife Refuge, Diane and I work as docents at the visitor center. This is just a great thing to do. Not only do we get to introduce people to the refuge, we get to talk with birders from around the country and the world. We also get plenty of time to look at the vast amounts of birds that use the refuge.

On this particular early morning we saw a Wilson’s snipe up high on a power pole as we arrived at the refuge. This was an unusual place to see a snipe as they are usually near the ground. Throughout the morning we saw white-faced ibises and red-winged blackbirds. A colony of cliff swallows make the visitor center patio their home and it is just thrilling to watch them flying in and out of their mud-dobbed nests. We saw robins eating yellow berries from a bush, an eastern kingbird on a post and hawks flying in the distance.

A couple from New Mexico came into the visitor center and said they had seen a black tern when they had visited the refuge two weeks ago and were hoping to see it again on the trip back home. After our shift at the visitor center we drove the auto loop and we also saw the black tern swooping over the marshes as well as coots, mallards and cinnamon teals -- all with fussy little babies nearby. We also saw yellow-headed blackbirds and meadowlarks.  We heard the gurgling calls of an American bittern and the winnowing of a Wilson’s snipe.

Please come and see us at the national wildlife refuges here in the San Luis Valley. We have great birding year around and there are surprises everywhere.

Field Notes 6.17.12

The day broke clear and sunny over the San Luis Valley and I slept in because it was Father’s Day. We got rolling about 10 a.m. and headed up to Big Meadow Reservoir west of South Fork for a fin and feather day-- fishing and birdwatching.  And as usual on these combined field trips the birds are always better than the fish.  Before I got the first hook out we saw a bald eagle soaring over the water.  I believe that this eagle’s summer haunts are usually farther north.

The fishing was slow and after a few bites with no hook ups we packed up and headed out on a birdwatching hike around the lake.  This hike is just good birdwatching-- we saw 12 different species.

We saw:

Bald eagle

Common ravens

Swallows

American robins

Pine siskins

Hermit thrush

Osprey

American three-toed woodpecker

Spotted sandpiper

Mallards

Canada geese

Stellar’s Jay

Also saw something olive/yellow and warbler sized

Heard several birds that we just could not see to identify  

It was a lovely day but I wish I would have caught some fish.  I think the fish gods knew that I already have fish in the freezer.  I was very successful on my last foray to the lake.  Diane was not with me then.   I find it interesting-- I catch fish when Diane is not with me and I do not catch fish when she is there.  I think she sends secret psychic messages warning them that the best fisherman is on the lake.

Also, during the hike we heard a deep rumbling sound coming from up the mountain side. Diane wondered if it was bear with cubs.  On the return drive a yellow-bellied marmot ran across the road and we enjoyed beautiful clusters of our state flower, the blue columbine.

Field Notes 6.10.12

 Our destination this day was Pike’s Stockade in Conejos County where both yellow-billed cuckoos and southwest willow flycatchers have been seen.  Just yards from the entrance gate we drove past a small calf curled up beside the road. We weren’t sure if it was still alive but indeed it was. We gave it some bottled water and then managed to lift it through the barb wire fence into the field with the other cows. We were hopeful that it would reunite soon with its mother.  

As we walked down the road leading into Pike’s Stockade we encountered a creature of a different sort – a rattlesnake lying across the gravel. We took a photo of it but gave it a wide berth. We also saw a porcupine in a tree. The riparian area adjacent to Pike’s Stockade and just north of the Conejos River was full of an assortment of birds including southwest willow flycatcher, downy woodpecker, prairie falcon, yellow warbler, turkey vulture, several species of swallows, common nighthawk, American robins, black-headed and red-winged blackbirds, mourning dove, meadowlark and horned lark. We are certain that we heard the call of a yellow-billed cuckoo off in the distance during our calf rescue but we were unable to spot one. 

Driving north towards Alamosa on County Road 21 we saw 4-5 snowy egrets, several white-faced ibises and some killdeer in and along an irrigation ditch.

Field Notes 6.9.12 Zapata Falls

 We left home about 4 pm and started up the Zapata Falls Road after a straight run across the Mosca road.  The parking area was full but we found a spot at a day site.  We ate our trout and tortilla dinner at a secluded picnic table under a pinon pine.  There was still plenty of sunlight. What we had come for was the sunset’s evening glow when Diane said we would see black swifts flashing across the orange sky.

We walked up the new campground road. There were grand vistas of the sun as it crossed the Valley floor-- to the ending of its day.

 We started up the trail to Zapata Falls, going in the opposite direction of many people coming downhill. Like the sun, their day was ending. Our evening was yet to start. We could see that the fall area’s serene setting was still being enjoyed by many visitors.  Moving away from the crowd we headed up the trail to Zapata Lake. We stopped at a little opening in the forest--sitting quietly we heard way more birds than we saw but we did spot a western tanager and a yellow-rumped warbler.  We followed one bird by its song and by its flickering shape as it flitted through the forest canopy.  We called it the little bird with a big voice. After much peering and peeping and pishing, Diane finally got a good view and I followed with a good look--Diane identified it as a plumbeous vireo. We also saw a turkey vulture, common ravens and a possible Cooper’s hawk flying overhead.  

The sun began to touch the tops of the western San Juan Mountains as we made it to the falls and were serenaded by the beautiful cascading voice of a hermit thrush. All the day visitors had left -- no one was there. The place was empty, clean and looked as if the last visitors had been Mr. Pease Blossom and Mr.  Mustardseed. We climbed up to the slippery sloping sides of the canyon.  I told Diane it was dangerous but she said to “continue on undaunted.” I now call her Diane Danger, femme fatale birdwatcher.  We had gone up the stream to see a dipper but at the point where we were looking at wet feet if we continued we turned back-- Diane Danger dancing across the wet weathered rock.

Back on the lower stream on drier and more even ground the sun was setting and just as Diane predicted the fast-flying black swifts swooped overhead.  Their wings flashed gold in the fading rays of the late spring sun.

Now the sky was a dark blue and ribbon of orange gave the mountains a final relief against the night. A common nighthawk flew across the darkening north sky.

What a special day for us. After all the people who visited Zapata Falls today—I bet over a hundred-- we  were so lucky to have it alone, all to ourselves,  for such a beautiful sunset.

Field Notes 5.27.12

For Memorial Day weekend we went to the old Fort Garland to see the historical re-enactors with plans to do some birdwatching on the way home.  In the parking lot we saw a Say’s Phoebe sitting on a fence post. We enjoyed visiting with the uniformed men and women and hearing about the history of the Civil War period.

Our next stop was nearby Smith Reservoir. We have been hoping to add Clark’s grebe to our list and sure enough, there were several out on the water. We strolled along the water’s edge and saw a violet-green swallow, along with other swallows, darting in and out of the deciduous trees.

We headed back to Hwy. 160 and saw two turkey vultures soaring in the high winds. Up the road towards the Sand Dunes we stopped at the Nature Conservancy’s Zapata Ranch and birded the nature trail. Our first sighting was a gorgeous western tanager. The red and yellow bird is conspicuous among the green leaves of the tall cottonwoods. We also saw several western wood pewees, a northern flicker and a western bluebird. Near the parking lot at the end of the trail we saw an unusual looking dove land on the ground. It was very cooperative and allowed us to get a good look at it before it flew up into a tree. It was a white-winged dove, a rare spring sighting in the Valley.

Field Notes 5.25.12

We decided to follow the “Cat Creek Loop/Hot Creek State Wildlife Area tour as described in John Rawinski’s “Birding Hotspots of South-central Colorado.”  From Alamosa we drove west across Alamosa County Road 8S and stopped first at the south viewing area at the Monte Vista National Wildlife Refuge. This treed area was filled with many birds flitting to and fro. The common phrase coming from both of us was, “What’s that!! Oh no, what’s that!” As soon as we would see one bird and tried to identify it, another bird would fly by and when we turned back to the first bird it would be gone. We spent half an hour doing our best to get our binoculars on every bird we could. We saw a northern mockingbird, a yellow warbler, a Bullock’s oriole as well as bluebirds and finches. Diane even spotted a gorgeous gold rooster with a red comb crowing at the rising sun. We were torn between spending the morning identifying more birds or continuing on our chosen path. 

We drove down Hwy. 15 for about 12 miles to the point where it becomes a gravel road. The book indicated that we should begin searching the prairie dog villages for burrowing owls. We drove several miles without seeing an owl, but once we stopped the car and scanned the short-grass prairie we spotted a burrowing owl sitting beside a hole.  We had a nice visit with an Amish lady who was outside in her yard, binoculars in hand, looking for burrowing owls and mountain plovers. She said that she had heard the plovers but hadn’t seen any yet. 

We, too, searched for mountain plovers but were also unsuccessful. Many horned larks, however, did get our attention. We turned west at Road BB to Golden-winged Warbler Bridge where we saw a Lewis’s woodpecker and numerous swallows. We caught brief glimpses of flitting warblers and a hawk.

Our next stop was Hot Creek State Wildlife Area. The riparian area appeared to be drier than normal and the water birds were not as abundant as we had hoped. We did hear the “barking” of a black-crowned night heron but it moved away among the cattails whenever we approached. We saw mallards on the creek and cliff swallows flying in and out of their mud-daubed homes. 

We returned to FDR 255 and drove through pinyon/juniper habitat hoping to see red crossbills but we will have to wait to add this bird to our list. We turned onto FDR 250 into the Cat Creek area and parked for lunch. We saw a broad-tailed hummingbird and heard the raucous cries of Clark’s nutcrackers. After lunch we drove east on FDR 250 to a heavily treed area called Keen’s Grove next to a barn and corral. The bleating of sheep from nearby hillsides could be heard as well as the exuberant songs of a house wren and a chickadee.

We ended our birding day at the Monte Vista National Wildlife Refuge where we saw ducks, avocets, ibises and coots. On the southern edge of the auto loop we saw a turkey vulture feeding on the desiccated body of badger.