Tag: Bird Walk

South Platte Park, Dec 5, 2020 – with Chuck Aid

Posted on December 10, 2020 by - Bird Walks, Blog

Greater Scaup (c) Bill Schmoker

Saturday at South Platte Park was a memorable one.  We had great weather, a great group, and OUTSTANDING birds!  We began at Blackrock Lake where we spent time working on the finer points of Greater Scaup identification.  These diving ducks belong to the Aythyagenus along with Canvasback, Redhead, Tufted Duck, Ringed-neck Duck, and Lesser Scaup.  A few of these are very similar and it takes some work learning the subtle differences required to differentiate them. Telling Greater Scaup from Lesser Scaup is the biggest of these challenges.  They are very similar in all plumages.  However, here are a few things to work on.  Greater Scaup are 18” long and weigh 2.3 lbs; Lesser Scaup are only an inch shorter, but they weigh half a pound less (22% less).  So, Greaters just seem heftier – bigger rounded head, big jowls, wide body; while Lessers are more attenuated – thinner body, thinner head, thinner neck, more pointy-headed. This is all pretty subtle stuff, but we wouldn’t want this bird-watching game to be too easy now, would we?  One of the things that really helped us out on Saturday was that the Greater Scaup were mixed in with some Ring-necked Ducks which are roughly the same size and weight as Lesser Scaup.  Our Greaters were significantly bigger than the Ring-necked Ducks.

We next moved on over to where the South Platte flows under C-470.  There was a good variety of ducks here, but the real prize was a singing American Dipper that just went on and on.  Beautiful! Particularly in December!

Swamp Sparrow (c) Bill Schmoker

We then proceeded over to a relatively new beaver pond just south of C-470 where we had several great birds: Wood Duck, Wilson’s Snipe, Swamp Sparrow, Rusty Blackbird, and Pine Warbler. The look we had at the Swamp Sparrow was world class.  The bird sat out in the open for ten minutes and we got to note every important feature – similar to a Song Sparrow but a bit smaller, more delicate, and shorter tailed – strongly streaked gray and brown crown, gray nape, clean white throat, dark rufous wings and shoulders, blurry gray-buff streaking on upper breast, and clean white belly.  The best look I’ve ever had!  We got a good enough look at the Rusty Blackbird in order to identify it, but it was high in a tree and a bit far away.

Pine Warbler (c) Rob Raker

Finally, the real highlight of the day was the Pine Warbler.  This bird breeds and winters in the eastern half of the United States, occurring rarely here in Colorado.  We had several opportunities to get reasonably good looks – greenish-olive crown and back, throat and breast bright yellow with line of faint yellow extending back below and behind the darker auricular (ear) patch, with faint smudgy streaking on sides of the breast, white belly and under-tail coverts, yellow broken eye-ring creating eye arcs above and below the eye with a small yellow lore spot (between the eye and the bill), wings grayish with two strong white wing-bars. There was one disconcerting feature on this bird – it’s lower mandible was deformed, having grown out longer than normal.  It seemed to be doing fine, but who knows what the impact of that may have on its survivorship.

Risty Blackbird (c) Bill Schmoker

Good birding!  
Chuck

South Platte Park,  Dec 5, 2020
40 species (+1 other taxa)

Canada Goose  24
Cackling/Canada Goose  80
Wood Duck  2
Northern Shoveler  38
Gadwall  30
American Wigeon  18
Mallard  37
Green-winged Teal  13
Ring-necked Duck  46
Greater Scaup  8
Bufflehead  12
Common Goldeneye  19
Hooded Merganser  18
Common Merganser  22
Pied-billed Grebe  2
Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon)  6
American Coot  7
Killdeer  3
Wilson’s Snipe  1
Ring-billed Gull  1
Great Blue Heron  1
Red-tailed Hawk  1
Belted Kingfisher  4
Hairy Woodpecker  1
Northern Flicker  3
American Kestrel  1
Blue Jay  1
Black-billed Magpie  2
American Crow  2
Common Raven  2
Black-capped Chickadee  16
White-breasted Nuthatch  2
Brown Creeper  1
American Dipper  1
House Finch  2
American Goldfinch  1
Song Sparrow  7
Swamp Sparrow  1
Western Meadowlark  1
Rusty Blackbird  1
Pine Warbler  1

 

Milavec Reservoir, Jan 11, 2020–with Jamie Simo

Posted on January 15, 2020 by - Bird Walks, Blog

Cackling Goose (left) vs Canada Goose (right) (c) Jamie Simo

Milavec Reservoir in Frederick, CO is one of the best places along the Front Range to see all the possible (read: non-rare) interior goose species. Sometimes, like last year, it even plays host to some rarities like the Colorado-record Pink-footed Goose and Barnacle Goose. As hoped for, while we didn’t see any Colorado-record geese on this frigid, but sunny, Saturday morning, we did see all the usual goose suspects. We also had some great ducks and raptors.

Nearly all Coloradans are familiar with our only breeding goose species, the Canada Goose, but winter brings migrant Cackling, Greater White-fronted, Ross’s, and Snow Geese from the arctic to our lakes, reservoirs, and fields. The most similar to the Canada Goose, the Cackling Goose was only recognized as a species in its own right in 2004. There are 4 subspecies of Cackling Goose varying in size and color, but some of the common characteristics include smaller body size than the majority of Canada Geese (there may be some overlap with the smallest subspecies of Canada Goose), a shorter neck, and a bill that looks “stubby” because of a more rounded or square head shape. Because of the difficulty of distinguishing between the smallest subspecies of Canada Goose and the largest subspecies of Cackling Goose, small white-cheeked geese are sometimes referred to as “Cackling-ish.”

Ross’s Goose (foreground) vs Snow Goose (background) (c) Jamie Simo

Like the Canada Goose, the Snow Goose also has a “mini-me” doppleganger, the Ross’s Goose, but that doppleganger is much easier to pick out than the Cackling Goose. Firstly, Snow Geese come in either the expected white plumage with black wingtips or a darker, grey-blue body plumage with white head and neck. Both have pink bills and feet as adults. The latter is sometimes referred to as a “blue goose, “blue morph,” or “blue phase” Snow Goose. There are only 2 subspecies of Snow Goose, but both have a black “grin patch” that gives them a sneering appearance, and a sloping forehead. By contrast, the Ross’s Goose, which is usually white but also occurs rarely in a blue phase, has a steep forehead leading to a rounded crown and lacks the grin patch.

The final expected goose species in Colorado is the Greater White-fronted Goose. This goose is mostly brownish-grey with darker belly bands, orange legs and bill, and white feathers around the base of the bill from which is gets its name.

Other stand-out species were 2 adult Bald Eagles, a Northern Harrier, a Red-breasted Merganser, a female Canvasback, and even a coyote. Not bad for a cold, January morning!

Female Northern Harrier (c) Chris Friedman

Frederick Lake (Milavec Reservoir) & Recreation Area, Jan 11, 2020
25 species

8 Snow Goose
3 Ross’s Goose
1 Greater White-fronted Goose
2000 Cackling Goose
4000 Canada Goose
60 Northern Shoveler
10 Mallard
1 Canvasback
7 Lesser Scaup
3 Bufflehead
20 Common Goldeneye
7 Common Merganser
1 Red-breasted Merganser
1 Ruddy Duck
3 American Coot
1 Northern Harrier
2 Bald Eagle
1 Red-tailed Hawk
1 American Kestrel
1 Blue Jay
6 European Starling
6 American Tree Sparrow
1 White-crowned Sparrow (Gambel’s)
2 Song Sparrow
1 Red-winged Blackbird

Heil Valley Ranch, June 8, 2019

Posted on June 11, 2019 by - Bird Walks, Blog, Events

Photo courtesy of Dave McLoughlin

We couldn’t have asked for better weather for our trip to Heil Valley Ranch. Heil Valley Ranch is one of the jewels of the Boulder County Open Space program with over 6,000 acres of prime wildlife habitat, amazing vistas, and gorgeous wildflowers, all of which we were able to enjoy on a warm Saturday morning in June.

Cordilleran Flycatcher. Photo by Jamie SImo.

We first struck out on the Lichen Loop. Before we’d gotten over the bridge, we heard a Cordilleran Flycatcher calling. Cordilleran Flycatchers are small, yellowish flycatchers with large white eye rings that form a tear drop shape behind the eye. They tend to favor moist areas in coniferous forests, such as along streams, which is where we found this one. Flycatchers can be extremely difficult to tell apart, but this one helpfully says its name: “Cordi! Cordi!”

A visit to Heil Valley Ranch isn’t complete without a Wild Turkey sighting and we saw several. Most of Heil Valley Ranch is Ponderosa pine habitat and the turkeys eat the cones as well as insects and berries from bushes such as the chokecherry present in the valley. 

Not only is Ponderosa pine habitat good for foothills birds like Wild Turkeys, but also for mammals like the Abert’s squirrel and mule deer, both of which we got a chance to see on our hike. The Abert’s squirrels at Heil are almost exclusively melanistic, meaning that they’re a very dark brown or black color rather than grey. Heil is also an amazing place to go butterflying or wildflower watching and we were lucky to have some experts in our group to help identify them. Painted lady and orange sulphur butterflies were especially abundant.

Lazuli Bunting pair mating. Photo courtesy of Linda Hardesty.

Once we emerged from the Lichen Loop, we walked a short distance along the Wapiti Trail where we had fantastic views of a male Broad-tailed Hummingbird flashing his pink gorget, and several Lazuli Buntings. We even got to see a pair of Lazuli Buntings mating! Quite different from the bright blue and orange of the male, the female Lazuli Bunting is a warm cinnamon brown. She’s also much shyer than her mate; rather than singing from atop an exposed perch, she tends to hide in dense bushes. 

Male Lesser Goldfinch. Photo courtesy of Chris Friedman.

As we headed back to the parking lot, we finally got great looks at several birds we had only been able to hear deep in the trees: a male Lesser Goldfinch and a male Western Tanager. “Lesser” isn’t a value judgment; it really refers to having less yellow than our other Colorado goldfinch species, the American Goldfinch. Lesser Goldfinch males in Colorado have sooty black caps and dusky backs. When they fly, they flash large white patches on their wings. We had an unprecedented invasion of Western Tanagers in people’s yards this spring due to the cooler temperatures and late snow, but Western Tanagers typically breed up in the Ponderosa pine forests such as at Heil Valley Ranch. The males are a riot of red, yellow, and black, while females are a dingy yellow and grey.

Our trip netted us 25 bird species in all, plus an unidentified hummingbird (Broad-tailed or Black-chinned). Such a great day!

Waterton Canyon, June 1, 2019

Posted on June 7, 2019 by - Bird Walks

We had such a great response to our first FRBC bird walk to Waterton Canyon that we had enough people to host 2 walks and we still had a waiting list! Although the day started off pretty windy, it thankfully calmed down as we walked. Windy days can be some of the worst days to bird because small songbirds will hunker down to get out of the wind and it can be hard to hear birds singing.

Andrea’s Group:

Violet-green Swallow (left) versus Tree Swallow (right). Photo by Jamie Simo.

Waterton Canyon trailhead is located in Littleton, near the Audubon Center at Chatfield off of Waterton Road. The area has an interesting history with Kassler just across from the parking lot.  Kassler was once an active town where employees of Denver Water lived and managed the dams and reservoirs of the canyon.  The trail, once a thriving railroad, has a gentle incline and is widely used by bikers, joggers, families and even burros! (We stopped to visit with two burros and their owner who was preparing them for the summer circuit.) Note that if you plan to visit Waterton Canyon, the parking lot fills quickly on weekends, and from June 3-14 weekday access is closed for annual dust mitigation.

We barely started down the trail before birds were appearing left and right. One thing I really appreciated about our group was the team effort in finding birds, helping others to find the exact location of a bird, and identifying birds. The group shared a ready camaraderie – though we didn’t know each other, you’d have thought we were old friends. Oh, the magic of birding! And with new birds coming into view around every bend and sometimes every few steps, we were thrilled at the great birds we saw (Lazuli Buntings, Yellow Breasted Chats, Yellow Warblers and Cedar Waxwings to name a few), and thrilled to share it with each other.

We got some great views of Tree Swallows and Violet-green Swallows and took some time to learn their distinguishing field marks. Both of these swallows have white undersides. In flight, the white of the Violet-green Swallow wraps onto the sides of the rump; the Tree Swallow has a small crescent on each side of the rump, not nearly as noticeable as the white rump of the Violet-green Swallow. The white on the Violet-green Swallow also extends well into the face – above the eye and covering the cheek; the Tree Swallow’s blue hood extends through the eye, forming a sharp contrast between the blue above and white below. The Violet-green Swallow has a shorter tail with narrower wings that extend beyond the tail, noticeable in flight, and especially while perched; the Tree Swallow has broader wings and a longer, notched tail.

The morning sun cast a yellow glow on the breast of a bird that puzzled us us until we determined we really were seeing blue on it’s back.  A Woodhouse’s Scrub-Jay!

Woodhouse’s Scrub-Jay. Photo courtesy of Kathleen Deckler.

Toward the end of our walk, an interesting sparrow was seen foraging on the ground and perching in the shrubs. The face had bold coloring – white, rust and black, and the outer tail feathers were white. Any guesses? It was a Lark Sparrow!

Waterton Canyon–from Waterton Rd to overhead pipes, Jun 1, 2019 
28 species

Canada Goose 4
Mallard 1
Common Merganser 5
Turkey Vulture 4
Red-tailed Hawk 1
Western Meadowlark 1
White-throated Swift 1
Black-chinned Hummingbird 1
Broad-tailed Hummmingbird 2
Belted Kingfisher 1
Northern Flicker 3
Olive-sided Flycatcher 1
Say’s Phoebe 1
Western Kingbird 1
Woodhouse’s Scrub Jay 3
Violet-green Swallow 2
Northern Rough-winged Swallow 1
Barn Swallow 3
Tree Swallow 4
House Wren 4
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 2
Cedar Waxwing 4
Yellow Warbler 8
Yellow-breasted Chat 2
Spotted Towhee 6
Lark Sparrow 1 
Lazuli Bunting 6
Bullock’s Oriole 2

Jamie’s Group:

Yellow-breasted Chat. Photo courtesy of Bob Magee.

Yellow was definitely the color of the day. By far, the most numerous bird we encountered was the Yellow Warbler. The brilliant, bright yellow males with their brick-red breast stripes were everywhere singing their “Sweet, sweet, sweeter than sweet!” songs from both high and low in the canopy. Next door at the Audubon Nature Center at Chatfield, this is the bird that is most frequently caught during bird banding. Yellow Warblers are most commonly found in wet areas such as at the edges of streams or marshes.

Normally skulky, we got fantastic looks at the Yellow-breasted Chat, an olive-backed bird with a bright yellow breast and throat, thick bill, and loud “chatty” voice. The chat used to be formally lumped in with the warblers, but has since been split off into its own family of which it is the only member. There just literally is nothing else like the Yellow-breasted Chat!

Other yellow birds seen were both American and Lesser Goldfinches, and Cedar Waxwings (hey, the tip of the tail counts!).

Cedar Waxwing. Photo courtesy of Bob Magee.

Another normally secretive bird that you’re more likely to hear than see is the Gray Catbird. However, that wasn’t the case on Saturday! We had a dapper little catbird male singing right out in the open for us. Both sexes are slate gray with little black caps and a flush of maroon under the tail. Named for the cat-like “meow” it often gives at the end of repeated phrases, the Gray Catbird is a mimic like the Northern Mockingbird. 

One of the most exciting birds of the day was the Lazuli Bunting. In the same family as the Northern Cardinal, the Lazuli Bunting male is a beautiful, blue bird with an orange sherbet-colored breast. Their stout, conical bills are perfectly suited for cracking seeds. The breath-taking blue of the Lazuli Bunting’s feathers is due to the structure of the feathers rather than being a pigment in the feather itself. Most blues and greens in bird feathers are “structural colors.”

Near the end of our walk we ran across an id challenge: a silent flycatcher sitting on a post. Flycatchers are notoriously difficult to identify when not singing. This one was a large flycatcher with a slight head crest and no eyering so the initial thought was that it was a Western Wood-Pewee, but when it turned around we got a great look at its dark “vest.” This “vest” is characteristic of the Olive-sided Flycatcher, which is in the same genus as the Western Wood-Pewee. Mystery solved!

In all, we observed 35 species, an incredibly successful day.

Waterton Canyon–from Waterton Rd to overhead pipes, Jun 1, 2019 
35 species

Mallard  1
Common Merganser  2
Mourning Dove  3
Black-chinned Hummingbird  2
Broad-tailed Hummingbird  7
American White Pelican  2
Turkey Vulture  1
Red-tailed Hawk  2
Northern Flicker (Red-shafted)  4
American Kestrel  2
Olive-sided Flycatcher  1
Western Wood-Pewee  2
Warbling Vireo  2
Woodhouse’s Scrub-Jay  2
Violet-green Swallow  12
Barn Swallow  4
Cliff Swallow  8
Black-capped Chickadee  2
White-breasted Nuthatch  2
House Wren  7
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher  2
American Dipper  1
Gray Catbird  2
European Starling  1
Cedar Waxwing  10
Lesser Goldfinch  7
American Goldfinch  4
Lark Sparrow  1     
Song Sparrow  1
Spotted Towhee  5
Yellow-breasted Chat  2
Western Meadowlark  1
Brown-headed Cowbird  2
Yellow Warbler  7
Lazuli Bunting  2

 

 

Waneka Lake and Greenlee Preserve, March 9–with Jamie Simo and Special Guest Ted Floyd

Posted on March 11, 2019 by - Bird Walks

Ted Floyd, birder extraordinaire

It was a beautiful, but blustery, morning when we set out for Wanaka Lake Park and Greenlee Preserve where we were joined by Lafayette resident and expert birder, Ted Floyd. The wind ended up being fortuitous because it broke up the thin skin of ice on Wanaka Lake. That meant we got to enjoy ducks and geese that would otherwise have been elsewhere, including Gadwall, Mallards, Northern Shovelers, a male Common Goldeneye, a group of Common Mergansers, and both Canada and Cackling Geese. The latter is distinguished from the former by their much smaller size, daintier bills, and stubby necks.

Cackling Goose (c) Jamie Simo

After surveying Waneka, Ted led us to Hecla Pond, which is a short walk from Waneka. In the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, Lafayette, CO was a big coal mining town and Waneka Lake Park used to be the site of a power plant that operated from 1907 until 1957. There are remnants of this history in the large ore boulders we passed on our walk to Hecla. We spent a few minutes admiring the lichen growing on the surface of the boulders.

Though small, Hecla Pond was no less interesting than Waneka. We were able to get good looks at a pair of Hooded Mergansers and compare them to the larger, sleeker Commons we’d seen earlier. We added American Wigeon to our list for the day there, as well as Ring-necked Duck (named for the faint, almost invisible ring around its neck rather than the much more obvious ring around its bill!).

Cooper’s Hawk (c) Jamie Simo

The wind kept our numbers of songbirds down, but back at Greenlee Preserve we logged Red-winged Blackbirds, Dark-eyed Juncos, and American Robins. We even had a Cooper’s Hawk fly over us! Lafayette hosts bird walks at 1:00pm from Greenlee Preserve on the first Sunday of every month, so stop by if you’re in the area then.

Our final species count was 27:

Waneka Lake/Greenlee Preserve
Number of Taxa: 27
100 Cackling Goose
49 Canada Goose
5 Northern Shoveler
3 Gadwall
3 American Wigeon
14 Mallard
10 Ring-necked Duck
3 Common Goldeneye
2 Hooded Merganser
7 Common Merganser
4 Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon)
8 Eurasian Collared-Dove
1 Mourning Dove
32 Ring-billed Gull
1 Cooper’s Hawk
2 Red-tailed Hawk
5 Northern Flicker
4 American Crow
1 Common Raven
5 Black-capped Chickadee
7 American Robin
13 European Starling
27 House Finch
1 American Goldfinch
3 Dark-eyed Junco
3 Red-winged Blackbird
8 House Sparrow

Peschel Open Space, Dec 8 -with Jamie Simo

Posted on December 10, 2018 by - Bird Walks, Blog

It was a cold, but clear morning when 9 intrepid birders set out for Peschel Open Space. Peschel is a hidden gem in the Weld County portion of Longmont near Sandstone Ranch. While the St. Vrain Greenway trail was heavily damaged by the devastating 2013 flood and parts of it only reopened earlier this year, the flood also created a lot of fantastic wetland habitat ideal for shorebirds and waterfowl.

Snow Goose (c) Photo by Jamie Simo

Things started off on a high note with a female American Kestrel and only went up from there. At some points the sky was nearly black and the air filled with the honking of geese attracted to the river, ponds, and nearby agricultural property that Peschel has to offer. In and among the thousands of Canada/Cackling Geese, we saw a dozen Snow Geese, including several juveniles and even a “blue morph.” 

Though Mallards were by far the most prevalent duck, there were also a scattering of American Wigeons, a few Green-winged Teal, and even 4 male Northern Pintails in their full glory.

Immature Bald Eagle (c) Photo by Jamie Simo

In addition to American Kestrels, Red-tailed Hawks were especially prevalent. We saw 6 different Red-tails. Other raptor highlights were the resident pair of Bald Eagles that made their appearance as we were heading back to the parking lot, 2 Northern Harriers, a Great Horned Owl roosting low in a tree, and a soaring Prairie Falcon.

While songbirds were in short supply this time of year, we did see several sparrow species (Song, American Tree, and White-crowned) and heard from resident species such as the Marsh Wren, Northern Flicker, and Blue Jay. The piece de resistance, however, was the American Pipit we saw picking around in the river near the bridge leading to Sandstone Ranch.

In all, we saw a total of 35 species, pretty good for an early winter day!

Peschel Open Space, December 8, 2018
35 species 

Snow Goose  12
Cackling/Canada Goose  2000
American Wigeon  22
Mallard  141
Northern Pintail  4
Green-winged Teal  3
Hooded Merganser  1
Ring-necked Pheasant  13
Eurasian Collared-Dove  11
Killdeer  5    
Ring-billed Gull  3
American White Pelican  8     
Great Blue Heron  3
Northern Harrier  2
Bald Eagle  3
Red-tailed Hawk  6
Great Horned Owl  1
Belted Kingfisher  2
Northern Flicker  2
American Kestrel  2
Prairie Falcon  1
Blue Jay  3
American Crow  4
Horned Lark  1
Black-capped Chickadee  2
White-breasted Nuthatch  1
Marsh Wren  1
European Starling  20
American Pipit  1    
American Goldfinch  2
American Tree Sparrow  1
White-crowned Sparrow  2
Song Sparrow  9
Western Meadowlark  3
Red-winged Blackbird  3

Hudson Gardens: March 31, 2018 with Jennifer O’Keefe & Chip Clouse

Posted on April 17, 2018 by - Blog

Our merry group of 27 birders ventured into Hudson Gardens and along the South Platter River on a brisk, beautiful day with plenty of sun. We spotted 25 species of birds during our 3-hour walk covering just under 2 miles.

We began by walking clockwise through Hudson Gardens, looking and listening for birds in the trees, on the ground, in the sky, and everywhere in between. American Robins and Red-winged Blackbirds were both observed singing out in the open, giving us a great opportunity to associate the song with the bird.

Out along the South Platte trail, we saw many of the waterbirds we’d anticipate seeing this time of year such as Bufflehead, American Wigeon, Green-winged Teal and Gadwall.

One exciting observation was a Northern Harrier behaving very un-Harrierlike. These medium-sized raptors with long tails and a distinctive white rump patch are most often seen flying low over grasslands or marshes. This behavior is explained by their habit of not only looking for its prey, but listening as well. The Northern Harrier we observed was soaring high in the sky, a behavior we typically expect from other raptors such as the Red-tailed Hawk. What a treat to see a bird exhibiting an unexpected behavior!

Female Northern Harrier @ Bill Schmoker

Another big highlight was a pair of nest-building Bushtits. These tiny gray birds are often seen in marauding flocks that descend upon your suet feeder and then disappear, often for weeks at a time. This time of year, they are paired up to nest and often start earlier than many other perching birds.

Bushtit @ Bill Schmoker

As spring migration continues, we will say goodbye to many species of waterbirds, and hello to some of our summer favorites such as hummingbirds, swallows, and Bullock’s Orioles. Be sure to sign up early for the next walk on April 28th, 2018 by visiting the Hudson Garden’s website.

Species List:

American Robin – 30

Black-capped Chickadee – 5

Northern Flicker – 3

European Starling – 9

Red-winged Blackbird – 25

Northern Harrier – 1

Song Sparrow – 4

Green-winged Teal – 4

Bufflehead – 7

Double-crested Cormorant – 2

Mallard – 14

American Coot – 1

House Finch – 12

American Goldfinch – 4

Killdeer – 1

Bushtit – 4

American Wigeon – 12

Gadwall – 6

Swallow spp. – 10 (flying high)

Canada Goose – 26

Blue Jay – 5

Common Grackle – 3

Eurasian Collared-Dove – 2

Common Raven – 1

Black-billed Magpie – 3