April 19
We left Fresco at 7:30 am and drove north on I70 on snowy and icy roads for an hour to visit Margery's feeders about 27 miles west of Vail. Thank you to Jane for driving today, it was her turn and she managed the Behemoth on the icy roads very well. We met the gracious lady who has the feeders. Margery is a welcoming birder who lives on an acreage in a lovely log home with Isin her dog. She has feeders outside that attract approximately 400 Rosy Finches all day. Along with the finches, there are Stellar Jays, Juncos, Pygmy Nuthatches and Mountain Chickadees. We spent several hours here watching this fantastic group of birds. There were Brown-capped Rosy Finches, Grey-crowned Rosy Finches and Black Rosy Finches. They filled the pine trees by the feeders when the Stellar Jays came down to feed. It was a super morning for each of us. After hearing about Rosy Finces for so long, it was great just to spend some time watching them up close. It was hard to leave. Everyone took many photos and likely there were many twig photos as these birds do not stay still long, but there are likely a few good photos. Alexander reviewed some of his photos and they were awesome. The trees had fresh snow on them and it was beautiful but cold outside. Margery was gracious and let us warm up inside her beautiful log home and even baked some cookies. We appreciated her hospitality immensely. She is one gracious lady.
From here we drove south on I70 to just north of Denver to Genese Park for the Williamson's Sapsucker. We walked a long trail that had melting snow and lots of mud and water for over an hour and a half. The afternoon was nice and warming up but we had no luck with this Sapsucker. The trail went down down down for quite a ways and then on the way back we had to go up and up and up. It was a slow walk back but at least we were not smeared with mud like we usually are. Our vehicle is turning into the mudmobile again though.
We then drove east to Eaton and are staying at the Cobblestone Inn for our outing tomorrow at Paunee Park.
The drive was fine as we had left the snow belt and we are now on the prairies again. Colorado has many surprising environments with sage/desert areas, prairie, mountains and foothills. We had some good laughs about Connie's Parmeson Ptarmigan yesterday and how amazing that in the thousands of acres of land that comprise the Loveland Pass and mountain, our group drove up the mountain and ski hill area, went to three parking lots to look over the mountain and at the third stop, Jeff heard the Ptarmigan call and told us where to look and in the whiteness of the fresh snow and overcast conditions with the odd flake falling, there was the Ptarmigan. How lucky is that!!
Here are some photos of today`s birds. Black Rosy-Finch, Brown-capped Rosy-Finch, (the photo of the the third Rosy-Finch was in yesterday`s post at the feeder, the Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch), the Dark-eyed Junco (Red-backed), the Pine Grosbeaks male and female and the spectacular Stellar`s Jay.
-
We left Fresco at 7:30 am and drove north on I70 on snowy and icy roads for an hour to visit Margery's feeders about 27 miles west of Vail. Thank you to Jane for driving today, it was her turn and she managed the Behemoth on the icy roads very well. We met the gracious lady who has the feeders. Margery is a welcoming birder who lives on an acreage in a lovely log home with Isin her dog. She has feeders outside that attract approximately 400 Rosy Finches all day. Along with the finches, there are Stellar Jays, Juncos, Pygmy Nuthatches and Mountain Chickadees. We spent several hours here watching this fantastic group of birds. There were Brown-capped Rosy Finches, Grey-crowned Rosy Finches and Black Rosy Finches. They filled the pine trees by the feeders when the Stellar Jays came down to feed. It was a super morning for each of us. After hearing about Rosy Finces for so long, it was great just to spend some time watching them up close. It was hard to leave. Everyone took many photos and likely there were many twig photos as these birds do not stay still long, but there are likely a few good photos. Alexander reviewed some of his photos and they were awesome. The trees had fresh snow on them and it was beautiful but cold outside. Margery was gracious and let us warm up inside her beautiful log home and even baked some cookies. We appreciated her hospitality immensely. She is one gracious lady.
From here we drove south on I70 to just north of Denver to Genese Park for the Williamson's Sapsucker. We walked a long trail that had melting snow and lots of mud and water for over an hour and a half. The afternoon was nice and warming up but we had no luck with this Sapsucker. The trail went down down down for quite a ways and then on the way back we had to go up and up and up. It was a slow walk back but at least we were not smeared with mud like we usually are. Our vehicle is turning into the mudmobile again though.
We then drove east to Eaton and are staying at the Cobblestone Inn for our outing tomorrow at Paunee Park.
The drive was fine as we had left the snow belt and we are now on the prairies again. Colorado has many surprising environments with sage/desert areas, prairie, mountains and foothills. We had some good laughs about Connie's Parmeson Ptarmigan yesterday and how amazing that in the thousands of acres of land that comprise the Loveland Pass and mountain, our group drove up the mountain and ski hill area, went to three parking lots to look over the mountain and at the third stop, Jeff heard the Ptarmigan call and told us where to look and in the whiteness of the fresh snow and overcast conditions with the odd flake falling, there was the Ptarmigan. How lucky is that!!
Here are some photos of today`s birds. Black Rosy-Finch, Brown-capped Rosy-Finch, (the photo of the the third Rosy-Finch was in yesterday`s post at the feeder, the Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch), the Dark-eyed Junco (Red-backed), the Pine Grosbeaks male and female and the spectacular Stellar`s Jay.
No comments:
Post a Comment