My history with birds I think begins with ducks. At least, the best I can remember it does. They are also one of the most diverse groups of birds found this time of year, from what I can tell anyways, so, I always end up with a huge amount of photos of them.

Bufflehead

Green winged teal

Common goldeneye

Mallard

Wood duck

Hooded merganser

Not ducks, but pretty close eh?

Pied billed grebe

American coot

Have I overloaded you all yet?

Geese are even more conspicuous than ducks here on the Front Range, but not all of them are the familiar and ubiquitous Canada and cackling geese.

Greater white fronted geese (or as many of us call them, and I think more aptly, "speckle bellies") are a somewhat uncommon visitor to Jefferson County. This first photograph I thought was just a couple of landing cacklers until I saw it full size on the computer screen. Boy was I a little shocked! This is the first speckle belly I have ever seen and I didn't even know it!

This one was hing out right in front of the library at Clement Park, and I do believe they are two different individuals, although I may be wrong.

Many of us probably find the much more common Canada and cackling geese a bit boring (by this time of my birding year, I certainly do. Bring on the songbird migration already!) but they do provide an excellent opportunity for me to practice in-flight photos.

And really, a big noisy flack of cacklers is special in its own way, particularly in the right lighting.

Alright so this will be the final one for tonight. Just a hodge-podge of whatever else haha.

First up some raptors. I think I may have commented before on how hard it is to get within 1000 feet of these guys before they take off. At least it is for me.

This is a Harlan's red-tail hawk. It has been classified as it's own species, but is for now "officially" considered a subspecies of red-tail hawk.

And a rough legged hawk up at the Arsenal. I went out there looking for raptors last weekend, but this guy was the only one I could find, besides some red tails that were a bazzilion miles away. It probably didn't help it was the middle of the day though.

And my wife's favorite bird, a kestrel. The males are more colorful, but they are just about as cute a bird as you'll ever find I think.

Nuthatches are always fun. The "wa-wa-wa" sound of the white-breasted is unmistakable and the pygmy nuthatches sound like tiny squeaky toys.

Two or three weeks ago I saw a report of hundreds of rosy finches, of all three species hanging out at the Fawn Brook Inn in Allenspark. So I drove all the way out there. Well, there was only about 15-20 when I was there, and they were all brown capped. Still, very cool little guys, and found almost exclusively in Colorado.

And of course, what would a bunch of my bird pictures be without sparrows? I sure have a fondness for the "little brown jobbies." These guys, the American tree and whatever subspecies of white crowned sparrow these are are only here in the winter, and then return to Canada in the spring.

Weell, I hope you all enjoyed the pictures as much as I enjoy taking and sharing them with you!

>>>>>>>>>> GREAT BACKYARD BIRD COUNT <<<<<<<<<<

Thank you, thank you, Zach, for the GBBC reminder! It's been a "strangely long" winter for me this year, and I haven't gotten anything at all done! I thought about it a little over a week ago, and then forgot it again!

For anybody who's interested, here's some info. It's EASY to do, and you can do it for as little as 15 minutes if that's all you want to do--at home, or absolutely anywhere else you want to!

http://www.audubon.org/content/about-great-backyard-bird-count

http://gbbc.birdcount.org/

It's Good For The Birds! Consider doing it!

Skybird

P.S. A hundred species, huh Zach! And I'm lucky to get up to six!!!

How many times can I say this!?! I LOVE your pics, Zach! I know you have piles of them that you don't post, but, boy, the ones you post are amazing!

You answered a question for me! When I was heading south from Green River, UT a couple years ago I came upon a "wildlife viewing car"--you know, a car that's stopped kinda sorta half pulled off the edge of the road--and half parked in the middle of it! When I saw it I pulled over to figure out what they were looking at, and immediately saw some "big" animals that pretty quickly ran across the road and a ways out into the field on the other side. By then I was out of my car (also parked half in the middle of the road!) and talking to the other people. We were asking each other WHAT they were! By then they were too far away for me to get a decent pic with my little camera, but we were looking with binoculars. We finally both drove away, not knowing what they were, but agreeing that they looked "like something from Africa!" Until right now I didn't know what they were! They were pronghorns!!! And they still look to me like they belong in Africa!

But you also confused me about something else! Long ago and far away when I lived down just north of Parker (early 70s) I used to take Arapaho Road east from I-25 to Parker Rd., and way back then there were still herds of something--I always called them "antelope," but now I'm not so sure! They, as I remember, were considerably smaller than the pronghorns, and I sure don't remember the "curly" horns--OR the "exotic" coloration! I might have just missed the "fancy" horns, but I don't think I would have missed the colors, because that's what "stopped" me when I saw them in Utah--the colors--and I definitely remember the ones on Arapaho as being more of an "all over neutral tan!" There were SO many of them--at least a hundred at a time--that you'd need to stop on Arapaho (2-lane at the time!) and wait for them to go "bounding" across the road and over the fence on the south side and off into the field! Am I misremembering the size and the horns--AND the colors--or is there something else that might have been roaming in large herds down there that were smaller and tanner at that time? It was absolutely amazing to see them bounding around down there!

The only "wildlife" I have up here in Thornton is the occasional raccoon that shows up "banging" against my windows at 1:00 in the morning--and scares the bejesus out of me when I think it's somebody trying to break in!!!

I can't BELIEVE all the different bird species you see! I have lots of house finches! And right now, real regular, downies and red flickers (no yellow ones yet this year!), and chickadees--but not as often as I'd like! Occasional only--thank god--blackbirds this winter, and not even very many doves! Oh! Juncos! Mostly when there's some snow cover! But not much else! With the GBBC coming up this weekend, and with warm weather expected, I don't think I'll see much at all! A little bit of snow really "brings them in!"

Thanks again for posting GBBC--and thank you for all the wonderful pics!

Skybird

Hahaha, Skybird, that 104 (I think is the exact number) is all the bird species I have put on eBird lists since I first signed up I think in 2014. So that's three years worth of birds! And I add lists all year if I happen to think about it, not only during the GBBC and not all of them are in my backyard haha. Of course not every bird I have seen makes it onto a list because I simply forget or don't think about it. Wild turkeys, which I have seen my fair share of, snow and Ross' geese which I have seen hundreds of, and blue grouse which I used to see somewhat frequently at Roxborough are all missing from my "life list." You can actually check out my "profile" on eBird, too which is a new thing. http://ebird.org/ebird/profile/NTg4MTA1/US-CO. Of course, I'm a loser compared to the "real" birders out there who have seen thousands of different kinds of birds all over the world.

Yes, I know the "wildlife viewing car" very well. If you ever see mine, stop and say hello haha! I do it all the time. A funny story about that (though it may seem kind of mean), me and the guy I used to work with at the Arsenal (he got a full time spot with the County and left us) used to stop on the Wildlife Drive and point out the window at nothing to see how many people would pull up behind us and stop, too.

I'm glad I cleared up the antelope question for you! They are my favorite "big" animal, and are the fastest mammals in North America. They just truly a unique creature and only live in the West, unlike deer which are practically like pigeons most places. As far as what you were seeing over by Arapahoe and Parker Rd, the the only "big game" animals that I think would be out there is deer, antelope, and MAYBE elk back in those days. Elk are quite a bit bigger than antelope, and are a dark brown. Female and adolescent herds would seem pretty large. Deer are more of a solid gray-brown color and would be about the same size to a little larger than an antelope. Again, females, their young, and adolescent bucks will sometimes congregate in larger herds and in the spring breeding age bucks will form large "bachelor herds." We have both mule deer and white tails, but white tails are going to be found mostly in the cottonwood "forests" along the rivers and creeks and are not nearly as conspicuous as the mulies. Antelope are the smallest of the "big game" animals I think, so if they were smaller than antelope, I don't know what it could have been!

Of course it's hard to say for sure. the area has grown so much and so much of the wildlife has changed in scope and distribution, and I have no idea what it was like back in the 70's! I do know what Arapahoe and Parker Road looks like now (it's only about 15 minutes from where I'm at), and wow, what a difference (and not at all for the better if I say so myself). Although, if you drive south on Parker Rd, Arapahoe County and the City of Centennial have some nice open spaces along Cherry Creek that I frequent. One is right behind Tagawa Gardens, which is where I saw a flock of western bluebirds last month (pictures are in the "did someone say birds?" topic).

We don't have a whole lot of wildlife here at the house, I did hear coyotes yipping and howling last night though. And so far the only birds I have seen at the feeder are house finches which only just found it about 3 days ago. The robins and waxwings picked the hawthorn trees clean way back in December and haven't returned since. I'm curious if we'll get any interesting migrators this spring/summer though. My grandparents live not very far away over by Smoky Hill in Aurora and they get a lot of cool birds at their feeders in the summer so I'm hoping we do, too.

The bird activity at mom's feeders is way down this year, too. I haven't seen very much else over there besides house finches and chickadees. I think its because of the weather. Like you said, they really hit the feeders hard when it snows, otherwise I think they are happier to forage in a more natural setting, haha. Come March and April though I think we will see more. First of all, I think there is more VARIETY anyways as they start to migrate. Plus most of their forage is probably all but used up by then, and the real snow storms will start to come in. So, keep you eyes peeled!

I’m starting to think the herd of “animals” might have been
females and adolescents! I definitely
know what deer look like, and they’re way too big and don’t look really at all
like what I saw. I don’t believe elk
were ever that far east—in “modern times” at least—and they definitely weren’t
elk anyway, not even females or young ones.
The main thing that was so absolutely amazing about “these things” is
the way the BOUNDED around—almost as if their “toes” weren’t even touching the
ground! They almost looked like they
were “floating up and down” they moved so easily across the ground! But because of that I think possibly they
“looked smaller” than they really were!
They MUST have been female/young antelope!

And—Centennial didn’t exist when I lived down thataway! Parker Road was 2-lane too, and there was a
stop sign at the intersection of Parker and Arapahoe! And Tagawa was the ONLY thing on the west
side of Parker! ALL the rest of the land
was Richlawn Turf Farm growing fields!
(470 had just been opened and was still free when I was moving away from
there!) I don’t even recognize the area
when I occasionally get down there—get lost after living there for more than fifteen
years! (Smoky Hill was built up already
back then—pretty new subdivisions, but all houses already!) (I think Broncos at Dove Valley was just being built when I left!)

Love your story about pointing out of a parked Wildlife
Viewing Car!” He would have gotten
me! [When I was a “kid” I was at the
local movie with a friend—it was a horror movie called The Tingler, and we were
sitting thru it a second time—theater was the only place that was cool in
summer! It really was a dumb movie—the
“evil thing” that was supposed to “scare” you looked like a strip of fake fur
being pulled around on a piece of thread—and it wasn’t scary at all. Everybody else was screaming “at the
appropriate times,” and we couldn’t figure out why! So we decided that we were both going to
scream at a time when we knew nothing at all “scary” was gonna be
happening! We did, and everybody else in
the theater screamed too! We thought it
was pretty funny—but then we got a “talking to” by the usher! It was still funny!]

Another story! The
first time (since 1949) that I went up to Yellowstone, 2006, I went in the east
gate, and, less than a mile into the Park the cars were all stopped in the
road. I was close enough to the ”front
of the line” to be able to see the buffalo!
Got out and started walking closer and there were a couple hundred buffalo
grazing on both sides of the road—and roaming this way and that all over the
road. We were parked there for a half an
hour, and by then there were cars parked as far as you could see in both
directions—everywhere—and just about as many people out of their cars as there were
buffalo! (Yeah! Some folks were WAY too close!) We were all talking—the one couple I was
talking to was from New York! I have
NEVER seen so many people that were SO happy to be in a Traffic Jam! (And I think maybe putting a few buffalo here
and there along the Interstates might be the perfect cure for Road Rage!) I went back in ’12—to see the buffalo again,
and to see the “terraces” by the north entrance which had had way too many
people in ’06! In 2012 there were
virtually NO buffalo (near the roads), and the Terraces had “dried up” during
the intervening years—but the people were still there!

Yeah, I know you don’t see all those birds/animals in your
yard—but you are SO lucky, first, to “work” somewhere where you have so much
opportunity for wildlife viewing, and then to live where there’s still so much
“open land” left—and closer to the foothills!
The few birds I named above are pretty much all I EVER get up here—in my
yard! And, instead of increasing in
summer, for me I pretty much see the same ones!
Usually get a few goldfinches in summer, plus some hummers, but then I
normally lose most/all of the flickers and downies over summer—and rarely see a
Junco in summer!

Right now I’m trying to figure out a—possibly—new one I’m
seeing! Maybe 6 weeks ago I saw small
birds hanging onto the suet cages. My
first impression, because of the basic shape, was that they were Juncos, but
Juncos aren’t usually “clingers,” and after the first couple brief times I saw
them I realized that they looked smaller than Juncos, and not as
“roly-poly.” One time I had at least a
dozen of them on the two cages! Some
were back again today, and now I’m considering the possibility that they’re
peewees! The head doesn’t look as
“square” as peewees look in most of the pics, but I think that might be what
they are! Boy! The illustrations/pics in my (FOUR) bird
books sure do make them look different!
Googled them and some of what I found look like what I have—and some
don’t! Final decision still pending!

By the way, on the “log” that I re-drilled to hang
horizontally, I filled two little “dishes” on top with broken up nuts and the
mealworms I bought, and also filled some of the holes on the sides with peanut
butter. I HAVE seen a downy eating the
peanut butter a few times, and this morning I saw a chickadee eating some of
the nuts! The nuts and worms ARE getting
gone, but I’m not seeing who’s eating them—could be blackbirds (which came back
today!), so I’m not putting much out till I know for sure if some of the “good”
birds (pardon my prejudice!) are getting the nuts and worms or not! With the mealworms I’m pretty surprised I
haven’t seen any of the flickers or downies getting some of them!

Did you see the recent (month ago?) PBS program about
coywolves! Really interesting—I thought!

Skybird

I saw the coywolves, SkyBird.

Beautiful and Interesting Pictures, Zach!

"Cute" would be those Goldeneyes and Buffleheads and Wood Ducks. The geese with a wing or wings extended are very photographic. The little Nuthatch is cute. I have a special appreciation for both larks ... they probably aren't related. "Shy?" Haven't you noticed how it's difficult to catch a Meadow Lark facing you with that golden breast?

Some of your pictures are a little funny! Mergansers always look silly to me and that Goldeneye, looking up into the great, big sky begs for a clever caption.

Okay, so antelope and Pronghorns are not related, either. The one in that second picture looks like a mule eating briar ..! Ha!

Steve

Skybird, the way you describe their movements... did they look like they "bounced" or "hopped" up and down? Because that's exactly how mule deer do it. Like over sized bunnies (they even have big ol' ears, hence the name "mule" deer). Elk were found on the prairie historically, and their diet is pretty much exclusively grass. Of course, I don't know if they would have been able to find themselves as far east as Parker, even in the 70's (there was a young bear picked up by DPD over at University and I-25 just a couple years ago though!). But like you say, there is little chance you confused them with an antelope!

Now, I'm pretty young, but even I remember growing up in Jefferson County near C-470 when the only thing west of our neighborhood was horse ranches and homesteads. Now they have been replaced with a Wal-Mart, a Home Depot, and multitudes of new subdivisions and strip malls. Even further east along 470 heading out towards University, there was nothing near the highway and Highlands Ranch was still fairly "new." Now its all car dealerships and apartments and condos and Highlands Ranch keeps expanding south. The firm my wife works for designs homes in a brand new mcmansion development ironically called "Back Country." I can't quite figure out what exactly is back country about hundreds of new homes packed so close together you can shake hands with your neighbors out the bedroom window. I have probably soap-boxed about the unbridled development on the Front Range enough though....

Speaking of bison along the "interstate," Denver recently opened their largest open space o the west side of Pena Boulevard going to the airport. "First Creek at DEN" borders Rocky Mountain Arsenal on the east and last summer we were building the new perimeter fence on that side along with a buffer fence to expand the bison pasture at the Arsenal. Apparently the long term ideal is to allow to bison to utilize some of the Denver County Open Space and as people drive along Pena from the Airport, they would have the chance to see the buffalo grazing. Whether or not that ever comes true is uncertain though, so don't hold me to it!

I no longer live over on the west side near the foothills, now I'm here off Arapahoe Road, about 5 minutes west of I-25. But, as I mentioned, the "open Land" on the southwest side of town where I grew up, and where mom and dad still live, is being gobbled up by the minute. Between Green Mountain and Bear Creek there is new housing development, with all the surrounding land either re-zoned "commercial" "multi family" or something similar. "Proposed Development" signs are everywhere along the highway these days.... Here I go soap-boxing again!! So a happier topic... I am VERY fortunate to work at the Arsenal, and I just got called today about when I'll be starting my season this spring and I get a new title! Ill be a tractor operator/range & Bio technician. It doesn't come with a raise (recent situational changes in our nation's capital don't bode well for federal employees...but we wont get political haha) but regardless, the countdown has begun and I couldn't be more excited!

Could your new bird be a bushtit Skybird? Pewees should be in much warmer climes at this time (though that doesn't mean anything, mom gets lesser goldfinches all winter and they are supposed to spend the winter in Arizona or Mexico). Anyways, bushtits will cling to suet cages and travel in flocks of about 10-20 usually. I have heard them referred to as "tinkle birds" based on the sound they make.

I'm so glad your long is working out Skybird, even if it IS blackbirds that are benefiting from it. But hey, they are beautiful in their own right aren't they?

I did not see the "coywolf" special (we don't have any T.V. here at the house). But I was reading something interesting at work last summer. The red wolf of the Southeastern United Stated, which has been listed as endangered by the US Fish and Wildlife Service, may not even be a true species! Recent developments have led biologsts to believe it is simply a type of coywolf!

Steve, thank you! I'm glad you like them and that some of them made you laugh! And you are right, horned and meadow larks are not related. Horned larks are the only species of "true" larks in North America and much the Skybird's chagrin, meadowlarks are a type of blackbird! I guess you're right. Of all my meadowlark photos, MOST of them are facing away from me! Of course that's pretty common for birds in my experience. They mostly fly AWAY from me rather than TOWARDS me, after all ;).

The golden eye staring at the sky is actually trying to woo the ladies. They have the most fascinating display. They extend their necks waaay out front, or straight up, and or flip it straight back and then snap it forward again all while making the funniest little beeps and tweets and sounds. It was a real treat getting to watch them, about 6 males and the same number or so of females. I actually wish I had a video camera that day because the photos simply didn't do the scene justice.

You can KIND OF see it in the 3 ducks in the background.

Nope, apparently "pronghorns" are not "antelope" but whatever, meadowlarks aren't larks either! I will always call the antelope, even if it does upset some people, haha. And that one does look like a mule eating a brier! Or that it's smiling at us. Its actually eating the dried seed pods off the yuccas though, which I found so bizarre! I can't image chewing on that would be very much fun!