Listing Through Life

Getting the Birding Year Off to a Good Start.

Posted on January 1, 2018 by Roger

Anyway … eBird has gotten me interested anew in year lists because I don’t have to do any of the tracking. I just have to go out and see birds and record them. In 2017, I ended up with 210 birds, which I’m happy with considering all that was going on in my life.

So when January 1 rolled around, I went birding. I decided to start with the Red-breasted Sapsucker that’s been seen every day for the past couple of weeks on the southwest side of town. I’d added it to my 2017 list on the final day of the year — the day before — why not go back the next morning and add it to my 2018 list? I looked online to make sure it was still being seen. It was. But more exciting was the news that a Varied Thrush was also being seen about two miles away from the sapsucker.

Varied Thrush has long been my most desired bird that is already on my life list. I first saw one in October, 1979, just five months after I began birding. It landed in a bush in the backyard of our house and stayed only a minute. I was sure of my identification at the time, but nobody else was around, and I never thought of taking pictures in those days. Ever since, I’ve wanted to see another one so I could erase my nagging doubt that I made a mistake.

Anyway, I decided to stop off to see the sapsucker and then take whatever time it took me to find the thrush. The woodpecker wasn’t there, but I overheard a woman telling a friend that she’d seen the thrush just a short while before. I ask her for details, and she gave me precise directions to the spot in Cheyenne Canyon. I drove over, and as I was getting out of my car, I met another birder who had just seen it and gave me even more precise directions. I walked down the road through pine woods along a creek and looked for a flock of Robins. When I began to see and hear them, I stopped and looked for the Varied Thrush. It took me about 30 seconds to find it.

It was sitting in a bush across the creek, but it didn’t stay there long. It flew down to a branch over the frozen water

then to another branch

and then downstream where I lost track of it. I hung around waiting for it to show up again while I checked out the many other birds in the vicinity. After maybe 10 minutes of solitude, two other birders came by. I told them they were in the right spot, and one of them soon spotted the thrush. It kept moving, and we lost it again. Then I found it in a berry bush across the creek.

More birders kept coming, and the area was getting crowded. I’d had my time alone with the bird, so I took off. I headed back to the sapsucker stakeout. There was one guy there who informed me that he had to go to the bathroom but thought he could hold out for a while longer. About then the sapsucker showed up on the trunk of one of the three trees where it’s been hanging out. It had a great knack for keeping its head hidden behind branches.

But finally it hopped down lower on the trunk.

The area began filling up with birders. I took off, and after a quick lunch at Culver’s, headed down to Fountain Creek. I saw all the usual suspects there, including a mixed flock of Canada and Cackling Geese. Here’s a shot of two Canadas (left) and a Cackling next to each other, with a sleeping Mallard thrown in just for fun. You can get a good look at the difference in the bill size and shape. This, and the length of the neck, are the things I look for when i.d.ing geese.

I ended the day with 35 birds, including the two Colorado rarities I’d seen within 15 minutes of each other before noon. I also spotted a Great Horned Owl in a large cottonwood right next to, and easily visible from, the main trail. I spent several minutes watching people walk and bike past it without noticing it.

Posted in Birds | Comments Off

New Years Weekend

Posted on December 28, 2017 by Roger

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).

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 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.

Posted in Birds, Food, Scenery | Comments Off

Illumination Light Show

Posted on December 16, 2017 by Roger

I saw an advertisement for a walk-through light show at the Baptist Road exit in Monument. That’s only two exits north of our house, and I know my wife likes Christmas lights, so after Seven Falls we headed up. It wasn’t as cold and windy as it was in the canyon, but it was still chilly.

We paid $8 each to get into the “park.” The lights were set up in the grass behind an office building. It didn’t take us long to get a feel for the place and realize we’d paid a lot more that it was worth. The path wound around back and forth through the field but all the lights were visible from any one spot.

After walking through Candyland, the path took us through a gravel parking lot and past the dumpsters.

Some of the romance was lost when I realized that many of the “trees” were clusters of lights thrown over tomato cages. Plastic coolers were plainly visible in the middle of displays with audio equipment stacked on top of them.

Unlit cardboard Peanuts characters were barely visible in the darkness along one stretch of path. Nearby, crammed between a dog house and a shed where it wouldn’t blow away, was Charlie Brown’s Christmas tree.

A field on the other side of the gravel lot was called Colorado Winter Land. There were lit-up outlines of elk, buffalo, bighorn sheep, and skiers spread out as much as possible to take up more space.

We’d been there maybe 10 minutes, and we were halfway through the show.

I realized that if I was going to have to get creative if I was going to get my money’s worth.

I started with this …

then went to this …

And ended with this.

Toward the end we walked through the Nazarene Nativity (or NAZARE ENATIVITY).

The actual manger scene was a small cluster of white lights that were easy to miss if you weren’t looking for them. We walked down a row of colorful shepherds, wise men, and animals, including the nativity chickens and a small-headed cow with a purple udder.

And that was it. Some of the lights were synchronized to Christmas music. The whole thing took maybe 20 minutes to see. It wasn’t awful. We decided it would have been worth $2.00 each. And it would have been more impressive with snow. There was a tent at the end with hot chocolate and cookies for sale. At least half the people in the park were inside, clustered around some outdoor fireplaces cooking s’mores.

Posted in Amusement Parks and Fairs | Comments Off

Seven Falls

Posted on December 16, 2017 by Roger

Seven Falls is the name of a tall waterfall in Cheyenne Canyon in southwest Colorado Springs. The creek that runs down the canyon isn’t large. There are some terraces along the way, but it’s a stretch to figure out how they find seven falls. But it’s a big tourist attraction in town, and we decided we needed to see it at least once.

In the not too distant past, it was purchased by the Broadmoor, the ritzy hotel that owns half the town. It used to be a more interesting place — if you can believe the old man on our shuttle bus. He told stories of going there years ago when there were Indian dancers and Christmas carolers, and you could drive right up to the base of the falls.

No more. We parked at the hotel and took a shuttle up the canyon. We were dropped off at a gate next to a booth where we had to pay $14 each to get onto the grounds. We chose to walk from there to the falls. We passed a small gift shop where we bought a glass Christmas tree. Santa was sitting inside, but he looked lonely. Mrs. Claus was talking on the phone.

The canyon itself was impressive.

But it was amusing how hard they worked to make attractions out of everything. One sign pointed to “Washington’s Profile,” a rock on top of a cliff that did kinda look like George. The next sign said “High Trees.” I guess they were wanting us to look at the two evergreens in front of George. Why they were interesting, or why they deserved their own sign, I’m not sure.

The road ended by a gift shop. There was also a tunnel entrance and a restaurant. We went inside the gift shop briefly, then followed the tunnel back to an elevator that took us up to a viewing platform and another gift shop.

The view from the platform would have been more impressive if the sun hadn’t been directly in our eyes at the top of the falls. I’m guessing mid-morning would be the best time to see this view.

Much of the falls were frozen. Maybe a fifth was open water. A handy sign gave us the names and descriptions of each of the “falls.”

We walked to the base of the falls. My wife found a comfortable seat and relaxed as I climbed the 224 stairs to the top.

Sometimes I get achy and sore for no reason. I realize I’m getting older and wonder if I’ll have to slow down soon. And then I climb 224 stairs at 7,000 feet and pass guys half my age and I think I’ll be fine for a while yet. When I got to the landing two-thirds of the way up, three young men were talking to a woman. They were discussing the stairs and how steep they were and how afraid of heights they were. As I continued up the second flight, I heard one of the guys say about me, “He stopped halfway up, turned around and took a picture. No way!” The woman heartily agreed. You can see my wife in her chair down at the bottom. This was the picture they couldn’t believe I had the courage to take.

Here’s the topmost of the seven falls.

Above there were a couple trails. I took a short one to yet another waterfall. It was a pleasant walk, but the fall wasn’t large and was mostly covered with ice and snow. The creek along the way was pretty.

Here’s the view from the top of the falls looking down.

By this time, the lights along the falls were lit, although they didn’t have much of an impact yet. You can see a little pink on the snow on the left of the falls.

We ate a late lunch at Restaurant 1858 at the base of the falls. The name comes from the year when gold was discovered in the area. When I’d made the reservation, the woman informed me that it was fine dining (in other words, expensive) but that jeans and gym shoes were allowed because there was hiking.

The restaurant was not at all crowded, which surprised me. It’s only open on Fridays and Saturdays, and you can only get to it by paying to get into the park.

My wife could see down the canyon a ways, but my view was just a rock slope above a frozen pond.

We ordered wild boar nachos and cheeseburgers. Both were amazing.

We split a lemon meringue pie for dessert, mostly because it wasn’t dark outside yet and we didn’t want to leave the restaurant until it was.

The meal wasn’t cheap, but at least we got great food for the price. The staff was very efficient and friendly, and we were in relax mode, which made the experience more enjoyable.

When we got outside, a cool, damp wind was whipping down the canyon, and we were not wearing enough coat.

We went back through the tunnel and up the elevator to the platform. It was really cold up there. The next two photos were taken from the same spot, the first with my camera and the second with my phone. The first is closer to what it actually looked like, but I’ve included the second because it shows more detail.

We were cold enough at this point that we went inside the gift shop and paid $2 each for a shuttle ride back to the gate. Once we got off the bus, we stood around for five cold minutes until another shuttle came around to take us back to the hotel.

We spent a ridiculous amount of money between park admission, some purchases in the gift shops, supper, and the shuttle ride, but we had a pleasant, relaxing afternoon in the middle of some beautiful scenery. No regrets.

Posted in Food, Scenery | Comments Off

Tuba Christmas and the Festival of Lights Parade

Posted on December 3, 2017 by Roger

We spent the first Saturday evening in December in downtown Colorado Springs to see the Christmas festivities. First came Tuba Christmas — 115 local tuba players who had just gotten together a couple hours earlier to practice. It’s not really about the music.

As you can see, the weather was pleasant and the view was nice.

We had about an hour to kill before the next round of festivities. We hung out in an Einstein Bros. and watched people walk by.

As parade time approached, I went outside and secured our spot next to a lamppost.

And here’s the entirety of the Festival of Lights Parade. There’s no sound in a time-lapse movie, so I added some — a song that was playing on one of the floats.

Here are some stills from the video. Some of the bands were good. Some weren’t. The floats were a mixed bag also. In short, it was a typical small city Christmas parade, but watching it at night in a large crowd made it fun. The last float had Santa, and much of the crowd, us included, headed out into the street and followed him for a block or so.