Tag: Birds

Saturday, July 12, 2025 Bird Walk to Lichen Loop at Heil Valley Ranch with Jamie Simo

Posted on July 13, 2025 by - Bird Walks, Blog

Photo by Bruce Raup

After the previous sweltering hot days, it was a relief that this past Saturday was cool and overcast, especially since the 2020 Cal-wood fire burned most of the trees along the Lichen Loop. Also, the last time I led this walk the trail was severely encroached upon by thistles and mullein, but I was happy to note that wasn’t the case this time.

Bullock’s Oriole bringing food to nest. Photo courtesy of Bruce Raup.

We had an extremely birdy morning! Not only did we get to see and/or hear all of our target species (Blue Grosbeak, Lark Sparrow, Yellow-breasted Chat, and Lazuli Bunting), but we were treated to great looks at not one, but two sets of parents feeding nestlings. A pair of Bullock’s Orioles and a pair of Western Kingbirds had set up shop in nearby trees so we were able to watch the parents coming and going as they brought in breakfast for the kiddos.

Bullock’s Orioles weave their nests primarily out of grasses or rootlets and, on average, lay 4 or 5 eggs. It seemed a little late for this pair to still have babies in the nest, but apparently they may re-nest if something happens to the first clutch. Rarely, they may also have a second clutch.

Western Kingbird on nest. Photo courtesy of Bruce Raup.

Unlike orioles that make pendulous nests, Western Kingbirds construct cup nests, many times in the crotch of a tree, which is exactly where this nest was. They lay a similar number of eggs to Bullock’s Orioles (usually between 3 and 5). We could see at least one baby when either of the parents came to feed and before mom would plop down onto the nest. From how frequently feedings were happening for both nests, it seems like there are plenty of insects at Heil Valley Ranch this summer!

Other than the nesting birds, the highlight of the walk was definitely the Lewis’s Woodpecker. This woodpecker is unusual in that it acts more like a flycatcher, sallying forth from a branch to catch insects in mid-air, versus drilling them out of bark, although they will sometimes also do that. About the same size as a Northern Flicker, Lewis’s Woodpeckers are also unusually colorful for a woodpecker. Their pink and green coloring makes me call them the “watermelon bird.” I’ve heard that Lewis’s tend to show up about 7 years following a burn so 5 years after the Cal-wood fire is about on-schedule.

In all, we had 31 bird species, a great showing for a non-riparian area in July. We hope you can join us on a future bird walk! No matter what we see, we always have a great time!

Lichen Loop Trail, Boulder, Colorado, US
31 species

Mourning Dove  5
Black-chinned Hummingbird  1
Broad-tailed Hummingbird  3
Lewis’s Woodpecker  2
Hairy Woodpecker  4
Northern Flicker  5
American Kestrel  2
Western Wood-Pewee  4
Western Flycatcher  1
Eastern Phoebe  2
Say’s Phoebe  1
Western Kingbird  4
Blue Jay  1
Black-billed Magpie  3
Violet-green Swallow  1
White-breasted Nuthatch  1
Rock Wren  1
Northern House Wren  3
House Finch  4
Lesser Goldfinch  3
American Goldfinch  3
Lark Sparrow  5
Vesper Sparrow  1
Spotted Towhee  6
Yellow-breasted Chat  1
Western Meadowlark  9
Bullock’s Oriole  4     Feeding in nest
Brown-headed Cowbird  2
Western Tanager  2
Blue Grosbeak  3
Lazuli Bunting  4

Saturday, October 12, 2024 Bird Walk to Mud Lake with Wild Bear Nature Center

Posted on October 15, 2024 by - Bird Walks, Blog

This past Saturday was October Big Day, the fall counterpart to Global Big Day where people around the world unite to share their love of our avian friends. In celebration of the day, Front Range Birding teamed up with Wild Bear Nature Center for a bird walk around their new nature center site up at Mud Lake Open Space!

Wild Bear Nature Center is Boulder County’s only year-round nature center. Currently located in Nederland in the Caribou shopping center, Wild Bear’s new location, which is currently under construction, sits on 5 acres of land and boasts access to 16 miles of nature trails. It’s designed from the ground up to include state of the art sustainable building practices like bird-friendly glass to prevent collisions and a net-zero energy footprint through the use of solar power.

Wild Bear staff generously provided coffee and donuts for the event and gave us a look at the construction site, though we weren’t able to enter the fence due to safety concerns (you can schedule a special hard hat tour through their website though if you’re interested in a more in-depth tour). After taking a look at the new center, we split up into groups to bird.

Fall starts a quiet time for foothills birding, so we didn’t see many birds on our trek. The most abundant birds were Common Ravens, Pygmy Nuthatches and chickadees, both Black-capped and Mountain.

One of the easiest ways to tell a Mountain Chickadee from a Black-capped Chickadee is by the Mountain’s white “supercilium” or eyebrow. To me, this eyebrow makes the Mountain look somewhat angry. The Black-capped has a full black cap with no white above the eye. Less noticeable, the Black-capped Chickadee tends to have buffier flanks while the Mountain is more grey overall. Their calls are also different, though this can be hard to hear. The Mountain’s chicka-dee-dee call is raspier, almost like it has a sore throat.

Mountain Chickadee. Photo by Jamie Simo
Black-capped Chickadee. Photo by Jamie Simo

Although not a bird, we’re equal opportunity when it comes to nature here at FRBC and the highlight of the trip was definitely the muskrat we saw in Mud Lake. Often mistaken for beavers, muskrats are much smaller (up to around a foot long versus up to 3 feet long, and 2-4 pounds versus an average of 40 or so pounds). While beavers have a flat, paddle-shaped tail, muskrat tails are long, thin, and slightly vertically flattened. Beavers are strictly herbivorous, meaning they only eat plants such as leaves, shoots, and the inner bark of trees. Muskrats, however, are omnivorous so, in addition to aquatic plants, they’ll also eat crayfish, frogs, and small fish. There aren’t any fish in Mud Lake, so perhaps they’re chowing down on tiger salamanders and chorus frogs.

Muskrat. Photo by Jamie Simo
American beaver. Photo by Dona Hilkey. https://flic.kr/p/w4CUW7

While we only had 8 species for the morning, the good company was more than worth it. We look forward to partnering more with Wild Bear’s staff!

Mud Lake Open Space, Boulder, Colorado, US
8 species

Steller’s Jay  1
Black-billed Magpie  1
American Crow  1
Common Raven  4
Black-capped Chickadee  3
Mountain Chickadee  3
Pygmy Nuthatch  4
Dark-eyed Junco  1

Windows and Birds: A Deadly Combination

Posted on June 20, 2016 by - Blog, Uncategorized

It is estimated that around 100 million birds are killed each year by collisions with windows. Some birds are only stunned and recover shortly after the collision; however, window hits often lead to severe internal injuries and death. Just this morning, I found a beautiful juvenile male red-winged blackbird that most likely died due to a window strike.

It is thought that birds hit windows because they see trees, sky and clouds reflected on the glass which confuses the bird into thinking they are flying into open space. In addition, birds that are fleeing from a predator are more likely to fly into windows.

How to Help a Window Collision Victim

Fortunately, not all collisions are fatal. If you find a bird that is dazed from a window strike, you should take the following steps, as recommended by The Cornell Lab of Ornithology:

  • Place it in a dark container with a lid such as a shoe-box and leave it somewhere warm and quiet, out of reach of pets and other predators.
  • If the weather is extremely cold, you may need to take it inside. Do not try to give it food and water and resist handling it as much as possible.
  • The darkness will calm the bird while it revives, which should occur within a few minutes, unless it is seriously injured.
  • Release it outside as soon as it appears awake and alert.
  • If the bird doesn’t recover in a couple of hours, you should take it to a veterinarian or wildlife rehabilitator.

How to Protect Birds from Window Collisions

If you feed wild birds in your backyard, you should be aware of and try to prevent window strikes. Identify which window is the problem. You can do this by going outside near your bird feeders and look at your windows from a birds point of view. If you can see the reflections of trees and sky in the window, the birds can too. While there are many ways of making windows safer for birds, we recommend WindowAlert UV Decals.

Birds have sharper vision than humans and are able to see certain light frequencies that humans cannot see, such as ultraviolet. In fact, many songbirds have feathers that reflect UV light to help communicate species, gender, and perhaps even social standing. Birds can see UV under normal daylight conditions, while humans require a black light. Since birds can see UV light, the use of WindowAlert UV Decals and Liquid will substantially lower the amount of birds hitting your window. The WindowAlert UV Decals appear as frosted or etched glass to the human eye but birds see it as a brilliant glow like a stoplight. are small clings that are placed on the outside of your clean window. Birds see the decal and know that is not a clear direction of flight.

We stock a few different designs including butterflies, leaves, hummingbirds, and snowflakes. Each packet contains about 4 decals that should be replaced every 6-9 months. They retail for $6.95 each.

For more information, visit WindowAlert and/or The Cornell Lab of Ornithology.