Listing Through Life

falco (hawk) mexicanus (of Mexico)

Monday, April 29, 2002 — 12:08 pm

Colorado Springs, Colorado — Garden of the Gods

Garden of the Gods is the chief tourist attraction of Colorado Springs (along with Pikes Peak) and was also billed as a good place to bird. I got to the park at 11:30 and walked around.

The rocks are impressive. Some are split into layers like a loaf of bread with sky visible between the slices. Others have holes into and through them. Odd outcroppings jut out everywhere. Rock climbers were working their way up or rappelling their way down several of the rocks, which did nothing for the view in my opinion. Pikes Peak provided a stunning backdrop to the south, but Colorado Springs sprawl is encroaching on the gardens all around.

I saw tons of Rock Doves and White-throated Swifts flying around, but the bird I was looking for was a Prairie Falcon, which nests on the rocks every year. I walked around Cathedral Spires and past South Gateway Rock, then along the east side of North Gateway Rock. Two Mule Deer were eating leaves at the base of White Rock. I kept looking up and found my bird about 20 minutes after I’d started walking.

A large bird that was obviously a falcon was gliding over the top of the rock. It circled around, then dipped down the face and disappeared onto a ledge. Moments later I saw another one, or the same one a second time. It was gliding out from the face of the rock. After about 10 seconds, it landed on another ledge about a quarter of the way down from the top.

I didn’t see anything more of it for about 10 minutes, but I wanted one more good look. I walked into the parking lot north of the rock. I spotted it stooping down from over the top of the rock to a small ledge where it landed. This time I could see it well, although it was a long way up above me. It stood on its tiny perch, its head almost touching the overhang. It looked around and, on one or two occasions, preened its inside wing lazily. It was still there when I left. I felt guilty walking away from such a cool bird, but I had to get back to the motel. I’d been in Colorado for almost 48 hours and hadn’t yet done anything remotely work related.

The Prairie Falcon was a flat medium brown on the back and white with brown streaks on the breast. It had long sideburns extending down from its brown cap. While it was soaring overhead, I saw the dark armpit marks that extend down the wing. Its wings were pointed falcon-like, but not as pointed as the wings of Peregrine Falcons.

poecile (titmouse) gambeli (given by Robert Ridgway for William Gambel, 19th-century pioneering California ornithologist)

Monday, April 29, 2002 — 9:04 am

Teller County, Colorado — Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument

After seeing the Williamson’s Sapsuckers, I continued on the Boulder Creek Trail. It wound through a pine woods and up and over a ridge to a large meadow down which Boulder Creek ran. In the woods on the ridge, I stopped to watch a flock of Steller’s Jays. Off to my left, I heard a chickadee whistling. I waited for it to come closer. After a few minutes, I heard it giving its chickadee call. It didn’t seem to be moving very fast.

I decided to leave the trail. I walked through the grove about 40 yards. I soon saw it as it flew to a leafless aspen then to a nearby pine. It perched on a branch looking around, then jumped on a needle cluster for a moment before flitting off through the woods. Later I saw a second one in the woods along a frozen creek.

It sounded and looked much like a Black-capped Chickadee. It was grayer, with less white in the wings and no rufous on the flanks. Its black cap was split by a bold white line above the eye. The first one was rather scruffy looking, the second one was clean and sharp.

sphyrapicus (from sphyra, a hammer, and picus, a woodpecker) thyroideus (from thyreos, a shield, and eidos, resembling)

Monday, April 29, 2002 — 8:54 am

Teller County, Colorado — Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument

The Boulder Creek Trail was listed on the park brochure as good for wildlife because it went past several ponds. It turned out that the brochure was outdated. In an effort to return the park to its original appearance, the park service recently removed the dams. There were no ponds. There were a lot of woods and meadows, however, and two lifers. The start of the trail ran along the edge of a large meadow. To the south was an open grove of pines. As I walked along, I saw a boldly patterned black and white bird fly over the trail up ahead. I was unable to follow it, but I suspected it might be a Williamson’s Sapsucker. This was a bit discouraging because, as usual, I began pondering the worst-case scenario and figured I wouldn’t see another one.

Not to worry. About five minutes later a woodpecker flew right past me and landed in plain view on the trunk of a pine approximately 50 feet up ahead. It was a female Williamson’s, and it was in no hurry to get out of my view. I watched it for a minute or two, then heard a loud “squalck” behind me. I turned in time to see a male flying at head height right up the path toward me. It landed in a second pine about 20 feet away. After a minute, it flew to the tree where the female was foraging. The two climbed around for a little while, then flew off together, calling and chasing, into the woods.

Five minutes later I saw them, or another pair, in the woods on a ridge. They were also calling and chasing from tree to tree, paying no attention to me. The male flew down to the ground briefly. I saw a third pair later (or the same pair a third time) further to the west and further back in the woods.

This was my favorite lifer of the trip, somewhat to my surprise. The female was interesting looking with her pale brown head, yellow belly and black and white barring pretty much everywhere else. The male was an extremely pretty bird. He was black overall with the usual sapsucker white stripe down his side. He also had two white lines on his head. His chin was a deep, vibrant red and his belly was bold yellow. When he flew, the white patches on his wings and rump contrasted with his black back and wings and flashed in the sunlight.

The setting, the solitude and the beauty of the bird combined to make this a great moment. This is why I’m a birder.

sialia (bird) currucoides (from carruca, carriage, and eidos, appearance)

Monday, April 29, 2002 — 8:01 am

Teller County, Colorado — Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument

I had three target birds — Mountain Bluebird, Mountain Chickadee and Williamson’s Sapsucker. Within an hour and a half, I saw all three.

I was at the park when the gate opened at 7:30. Several construction workers were building a new visitor center and an older couple arrived as I was leaving, but apart from them I had the place to myself. I started wandering the trails and found myself on the Petrified Forest Loop. (I have no interest in fossils, so I never read any of the signs to find out what was significant about the place.) Two Pygmy Nuthatches and a Red-shafted Flicker grabbed my attention. I was watching one of the nuthatches climbing out on the one remaining limb of a dead pine stump. All of a sudden I realized I was looking at a different bird.

A lone female Mountain Bluebird was sitting in a pine just above the dead branch. Moments later I found a male on the dead branch about a foot below her. They were watching me, sitting motionless. We were in an open grove of pines that covered about an acre on a little knoll in the middle of a meadow. Off to the east, Pikes Peak looked huge. Other mountains and rock formations stuck up wherever I looked. It was an awesome place to see an awesome bird.

After a few moments, the two Bluebirds flew down through the grove and landed in the tops of three-foot pines at the edge of the grove. At that point, I was distracted by a flock of Clark’s Nutcrackers. About 10 minutes later I was walking across the meadow. I saw the Mountain Bluebirds in small shrubs in the open. The female took off after a large flying bug. She missed on the first attempt but I think she got it on the second try. At the same time I was watching them, I spotted a pair of Western Bluebirds sitting in the top of taller pines nearby. The two species seemed to be hanging out together. Two hours later when I was returning to the car, I saw all four birds in an open area of pines on the other side of the knoll. They were flitting down to the ground and back up to open perches in the manner of bluebirds everywhere.

The male Mountain Bluebird was sky blue, a bit lighter on the breast and belly. The female was a light pearly gray with sky blue on her wings and tail. Neither had any rufous coloring anywhere. Both seemed slimmer and trimmer than Eastern or Western Bluebirds.