Friends spent December 28-31 with us. On Thursday, we went to Pueblo to bird. We saw over 50 species, including a Prairie Warbler that’s been hanging around in the same bushes belong the Pueblo Reservoir dam for about a month.
Near sundown, we found a pond along the Arkansas River in town that was teeming with waterfowl. After much searching (prompted by a report on the hotline), I found a Barrow’s Goldeneye swimming with the Common Goldeneyes. This is an awful photo, taken with my phone through my binoculars, but the Barrow’s can be seen partly hidden by the left-most branches of the bush. It has more black on its back, and a black spur on the side that extends down from the neck.
On Friday, we started at Fountain Creek and saw the usual birds. The pond was empty when we arrived, but soon a large flock of Cackling Geese with a few Canadas came in. With them were two white-headed geese that were probably Cackling/Snow hybrids. One can be seen in the second photo (and briefly flying overhead in the video).
Crows
Red-winged Blackbirds
A Red-breasted Sapsucker, usually found only along the West Coast, has been hanging out in a residential neighborhood along the Broadmoor Hotel golf course for over a week. We went over to see it, but it never showed while we were there.
In the afternoon, we went to Black Forest to look for Steller’s Jays and Pygmy Nuthatches, but I’ve rarely been anywhere with so few birds. In almost two hours of hiking around, we saw exactly one crow, one raven, and three juncos.
On Saturday, we all hiked at Castlewood Canyon State Park.
We ate lunch at Crave Real Burgers in Castle Rock, did a little shopping, then headed home to watch movies.
On Sunday, we stuck around Colorado Springs. We started with breakfast at Mountain Shadows Cafe. The last time the four of us were there, they were out of their famous huge cinnamon rolls. This time we had to wait a while, but we finally got one to share among the four of us. I thought it was tasty, but the others weren’t thrilled.
We went back to the Broadmoor to look for the sapsucker again. After a few minutes, another birder spotted it. The looks weren’t great, but we saw it.
Since we were in the neighborhood, we swung by the home of Starr Kempf, a sculptor who committed suicide in 1995. Some of the works that he created still stand in his yard. They turn and twist in the wind—we saw the flying bird turning back and forth.
I photographed a sculpture downtown a few weeks ago without knowing what it was. I’m pretty sure it was one of Kempf’s.
We drove to the top of Cheyenne Canyon and back, then headed into Manitou Springs where we spent an hour in the Penny Arcade playing old coin-operated games.
We also toured Magic Town in Old Colorado City.
