[Douglbirds] Sunday Treats

[Kirk Huffstater - Creative Gardenscapes]

Happy New Year to all my fellow Douglas County birders!!!!!!!!!

Birding along the open water of the South Platte River (88th Ave area) was quite good yesterday, although a bit chilly (only 2 degrees when Tom H. and I headed out).  There were lots of waterfowl of all types, but since we were not within Douglas County, I won't list all the ducks, geese, mergansers, etc.

Back to Douglas County......

There's a group of about 5 Eurasian Collared-Doves that appear to be permanent, year-round residents in the small hamlet of Louviers.  I've seen them every time I've been there over the past 18 months, and Tom H. lives there, seeing/hearing them nearly every day.  They sound quite different from the average Mourning Dove, and are therefore quite easily ID'd by ear.

On my way home yesterday, I had excellent, close-up looks at a beautiful, dark morph Rough-legged Hawk.  It was along Hwy 105 (Perry Park Rd), between Sedalia and Wolfensberger Road.  It flew directly over my vehicle, and landed in a medium-sized ponderosa pine only about 60-70 yards away, affording some great views with both binoculars and my spotting scope.

My backyard feeders have been busy with the normal characters, including House Finches, Dark-eyed Juncos (all races), Western Scrub-Jays, Blue Jays, Black-capped Chickadees, White-breasted Nuthatches, Downy Woodpeckers, Hairy Woodpeckers, Northern Flickers, Black-billed Magpies, White-crowned Sparrows, Song Sparrows, and American Tree Sparrows.  There's a Cooper's Hawk in the area as well, that keeps the feeder birds on their toes.  Round all this out with fly-overs of American Crows, Common Ravens, and Red-tailed Hawks.  There's nothing unusual, but always lots of action.

Good Birding,

Kirk Huffstater
4 miles West of Castle Rock
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: /pipermail/douglbirds_denveraudubon.org/attachments/20070108/5a801f98/attachment.html