Listing Through Life

I went birding today as a quiet protest against everyone telling me I should stay at home. I drove down to Lake Pueblo State Park, walked 7.5 miles, and saw 47 species. The only bird of note was an Eastern Phoebe. But the day was beautiful and relaxing, and I exercised my inalienable rights of liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Here are my best photos.

Two male Redheads

Male Belted Kingfisher

Ring-billed Gull

After video church on Sunday, I felt like getting outside some more. I saw that birders had found a Winter Wren, a couple Swamp Sparrows, Rusty Blackbirds, a Pine Warbler, and a Northern Parula, all within a small area below the dam at Chatfield State Park. I drove up and quickly found a group of birders staring into the brush along a creek. Within a couple minutes, I spotted the Parula and followed another birder’s directions to the Pine Warbler. I hung around for another hour, but didn’t see the other birds (although others said they saw the Swamp Sparrow while I was there). I was mostly concerned about the Rusty Blackbirds because I had never seen them in Colorado, and hadn’t seen them anywhere in several years (whereas I had just seen Swamp Sparrows in Illinois last week and several Winter Wrens in Ohio a few weeks ago).

Northern Parula

I left the area and walked around South Platte Park to get my miles in. There weren’t a lot of birds around, but I did manage to get better photos of Gadwalls than I ever had before.

On my way back into the state park, I passed a couple birders who had been looking at the warblers earlier. I asked them if the Rusty Blackbirds had shown up, and they all said no. I decided to try again anyway. A different group of birders were tracking the warblers. Within a minute, I spotted two Rusty Blackbirds. They flew into a small marsh. One of them sat in a tree while the other foraged on a Beaver house.

The light for photography was great, so I kept looking for other things. A guy about 30 yards away found the Pine Warbler and was very insistent that I come look at it. To appease him, I went. This is a still from a video, but it’s clear enough to show the bird’s oddly elongated lower mandible. It’s obviously deformed, but the bird didn’t seem unhealthy in any way (unless you consider the fact that it was 800 miles out of range in an area with winters too hard for an insect-eater to survive).

An odd day in that I saw all the birds I was looking for, including my second-ever Black-legged Kittiwake and Red-throated Loon. I didn’t get a photo of the kittiwake. When I saw it, it was flying out over the lake too far away to make a picture worthwhile. But I definitely saw the black “M” on its wings, as did the two other birders nearby.

Here’s the Red-throated Loon. It came in closer than this, but was in direct line with the sun, which made looking at it, much less photographing it, very difficult. I think it’s a first-winter bird because it isn’t as pale as the pictures in the field guide, but it has the classic, thin, up-turned bill, and it was considerably smaller and sleeker than the several Common Loons in the area.

Common Loon

Canyon Towhee. I’m not sure if something is wrong with its wing. It flew to this spot, so it couldn’t have been too injured, but it held the right wing out like this the whole time I watched.

bombycilla (silky-tailed) garrulus (talkative, chattering, but named for its resemblance to the European Jay, whose generic name is garrulus).

Saturday, November 7, 2020 — 8:45 am

Littleton, Colorado — Hudson Gardens

I made a couple tries for this bird in northern Illinois/southern Wisconsin years ago, but had no luck. It’s been on my “chase when there’s a chance” list since we’ve been in Colorado, but there have been no chances. Until today.

The Bohemian Waxwing was found yesterday in Littleton, hanging with a flock of Cedar Waxwings. It was in a park called Hudson Gardens, along the Platte River. I arrived around 8:30. It was gray and breezy, and there weren’t a lot of birds around. I wandered until I found the pond where the flock was seen yesterday. I noticed about 10 birds in the top of a cottonwood high above my head. They were waxwings. The light was terrible, and the angle was bad, but I sorted through them until I found one that was a little larger, a lot grayer, and had dark under-tail coverts. I could see a patch of white on its wing. I had my bird, and a photo or two that might have been diagnostic if I lightened them up a lot, but I wanted a better view.

I walked around to the other side of the pond where a small group of birders (all with masks on) were standing. The waxwings were gone. I hung around for maybe 10 minutes then went for a stroll. I soon saw another group of birders looking up into a cottonwood maybe 100 yards from the first group. The Bohemian Waxwing was in the tree. He was obviously larger than the Cedar Waxwings, and he moved around a lot more, chasing insects (?) on short flights. At times he landed near the flock, but other times he was separated from them by 30 feet or so. I heard another birder saying that the Bohemian was picked on by the Cedars, but every time I saw any interaction, the Cedars kept away from the Bohemian. The sun came out while we watched, and I was able to get some decent photos.

In this shot, a Cedar Waxwing is just above it. You can see the white wing spots, the cinnamon under-tail coverts, the gray chest and belly, and the redder face of the Bohemian. It’s also maybe an inch longer.

After maybe 15 minutes, the flock took off. I wandered around the gardens to see what else there was to see. When I got back to the cottonwoods where I first saw the birds, they were back, only this time there were probably 70 Cedar Waxwings. I walked around the pond again to get the light (such as it was) behind me. It was tricky to pick out the Bohemian among the others, but I managed a couple times.

One thing kinda funny happened. Several people in the group were trying to explain to other people in the group exactly where in the tree they saw a bird they thought might have been it. I wasn’t seeing it at the time, but I noticed a steady parade of waxwings flying down to the edge of the water to drink. I just concentrated on them and soon saw the Bohemian land on a log in the water. I called out to everyone and caused a great deal of consternation because it immediately became apparent that the birds they were looking at weren’t it. The Bohemian stayed on the log long enough for others to see it and confirm my i.d., but it didn’t stay long. The flock hung in the trees for another couple minutes and then took off. No doubt they would have returned, but I’d gotten great views, decent photos, and the light wasn’t getting any better. I headed for home.