Listing Through Life

On Saturday, somebody reported a Glossy Ibis and several Long-billed Curlews hanging out in a flooded field at Clear Spring Ranch, near the southern edge of El Paso County.

It’s week five of the Covid-19 quarantine, and as the major push of spring migration gets closer, I’m getting antsier about being locked up. Apparently a lot of other local birders feel the same way because it sure seemed like most of them headed to Clear Spring Ranch on Sunday morning. It’s about as far as I feel confident going during this bizarre suppression of my freedoms.

I arrived around 7:30, but there were at least three birders there ahead of me. There were four White-faced Ibises in the field, along with Franklin’s Gulls, both yellowlegs, five species of blackbirds (Red-winged, Brewer’s, Yellow-headed, Common and Great-tailed Grackles) and a smattering of other stuff.

White-faced Ibis. I lightened a few of these, but I assure you I didn’t add any color.

Franklin’s Gulls. Again, no color has been added. Their undersides really are tinged with pink in breeding plumage.

Here’s an answer to the age-old question: How much greater is a Greater Yellowlegs? You can see the size difference when they’re together like this. Also notice the longer bill on the greater, with something of a curve upwards. The greater also has more barring on its side.

I walked the trails for an hour or so but didn’t see much. I did hear a calling Virginia Rail. A ranch that borders the trail now has a bison in the pasture with the horses. I took a photo and messed around with it a bit.

I also took a photo of the railroad bridge over Monument Creek and applied some filters.

After leaving Clear Spring Ranch, I drove out into the flats in search of other birds. If I knew then what I know now, I would have stayed at Clear Spring and walked around some more to get in exercise and spare myself 50 miles of mostly-pointless driving.

I did finally get some halfway decent shots of Burrowing Owls, but my camera still has trouble focusing on brown against brown.

And that was just about it. I probably would have stayed out longer and found another place to walk, but some afternoon thunderstorms blew through, stirring up the wind and making birding unpleasant.

I got tired of passive social distancing, so I opted for some active social distancing. I left home at 6:30 and stopped by Memorial Park to look for the Neotropic Cormorant that’s been seen there earlier this week. I didn’t see it, but I did find this Double-crested Cormorant with a fishing line dangling from its bill.

I drove down to Squirrel Creek Road and stopped by the prairie dog town that is generally reliable for Burrowing Owls. There were six owls there (along with two Pronghorn, two Swift Fox, and a ton of Black-tailed Prairie Dogs). I must have taken 50 photos of Burrowing Owls during the morning, but none of them came out well. This is the best of the bunch. My camera struggles with brown animals on a brown background.

In this part of the state, it’s hard to find people, much less get within six feet of them.

I stopped for some grocery shopping on the way home and wore my “mandatory” mask for the first time. Supposedly a mask is required when shopping, but at least a third of the shoppers didn’t have one.

vulpes velox

Friday, April 10, 2020 — 8:00 am

El Paso County, Colorado — Squirrel Creek Road

I got tired of being cooped up in my immediate neighborhood by the virus, so I got up early and headed out into the desert flats in the eastern half of El Paso County. I drove out Squirrel Creek Road and stopped by the prairie dog town that has been reliable for Burrowing Owls. I saw six owls there today, but my attention was immediately drawn to a pair of Swift Foxes that were hanging about the mouth of their burrow maybe 60 yards from the road.

During the 20 minutes I watched, they never moved more than a few feet from their burrow. They were actively relaxing — lying down, sitting up, walking around, going in and out of the burrow. They looked my way from time to time, but didn’t seem to be bothered by my presence.

Swift Foxes are tiny, about 12 inches tall and 30 inches long from the tip of the nose to the top of the tail. That’s about the size of a large house cat. I thought they actually looked cat-like at times. They’re nocturnal, but obviously you can also see them if you get out early in the morning. They’re called Swift Foxes because they can run up to 30 mph. They nest in abandoned badger or prairie dog holes. Swift Foxes eat small animals, birds, insects, and fruit and nuts. The identifying marks, apart from size and habitat, are the black tail tip and black patches on the sides of the muzzle.

One of two Wilson’s Snipes by the iron foot bridge along Black Squirrel Creek.

A Say’s Phoebe

Black Squirrel Creek on a cold, cloudy Friday afternoon.

A Great Blue Heron in the marsh along Black Squirrel Creek.

On Friday evening, I saw two Coyotes along Black Squirrel Creek. I saw them about 10 minutes and half a mile apart, but I’m pretty certain it was two different animals. The first one was along the road near the pond. The second one was by the iron bridge. It came trotting along the creek and got within maybe 50 feet of me before it noticed me and turned around and headed back the way it had come.

Pine Siskin in the weeds along Monument Branch. I’ve been seeing them there regularly for about a month.

I wanted to go birding, but the ground was covered with six inches of snow and the world was shut down from fear of Covid-19. In desperation, I spent a couple hours in the open space along Monument Branch. For the first hour, the sun was so bright and the snow so reflective that I thought I might go snow blind.

The birds were all the usual suspects. I unintentionally flushed a Great Blue Heron from the tiny pond down below the school. It flew up into a pine and hunkered down. I have plenty of photos of Great Blue Herons, so I didn’t make any particular effort, but when it allowed me to get within maybe 50 yards, I snapped off a few shots. One of them turned out pretty good.

The mottled background is snow and pines on the Rampart Range a couple miles away.