Tag: Greenlee Preserve

Saturday, March 9, 2024 Bird Walk to Waneka Lake and Greenlee Preserve with Sarah Spotten

Posted on March 11, 2024 by - Bird Walks, Blog

In March, one can almost sense the excitement of Colorado birders in the air: the changing of the guard is near! Soon, after a long winter of anticipation, the spring migrants and summer breeders will be arriving in our favorite patches, and our winter visitors will be heading off to points north. But until then, we can still enjoy the winter waterfowl in their breeding finery, at the same time that we are enjoying the early-spring songs of our local year-round resident birds gearing up for the breeding season.

Adult Cooper’s Hawk. Photo by Sarah Spotten.

Waneka Lake and adjacent Greenlee Preserve in Lafayette, Colorado boast several habitats which attract a diverse mix of birds year-round: reservoir, wetland, and nearby farmland surrounded by suburban neighborhoods. At Greenlee Preserve there are also some bird feeders, which have been known to host wintering White-throated Sparrows and several species of hummingbirds in the summer.

Our outing on March 9, 2024 began with the raucous serenade of dozens of European Starlings singing in the trees near the Waneka Lake Park parking lot, imitating several other birds like American Kestrel, Killdeer, and what sounded like Sora. Northern Flickers were also giving their territorial calls and drumming on trees and trash cans. Not far from the parking lot, we found an adult Cooper’s Hawk, which betrayed its presence by its “kek-kek-kek” call. This adult perched in one spot long enough for us all to get great looks through the scope. At one point, it was joined by a second individual, this one an immature bird, allowing us to compare how the plumages of the two ages differ.

Waterfowl was scarce on Waneka Lake, but we did have a few species on the water: Canada Goose, Common and Hooded Mergansers, Gadwall, Mallard, and Green-winged Teal. Greenlee Preserve, surprisingly, was a bit of a bust – hardly any birds around! But, that’s the nature of nature sometimes. We did have a couple of singing Red-winged Blackbirds nearby and two Black-capped Chickadees checking out potential nest cavities in tree branches.

White Pelicans. Photo by Sarah Spotten.

Most of the group continued walking on to nearby Hecla Lake, about a half-mile southwest of Waneka Lake Park. On the way there, we heard and saw a singing White-breasted Nuthatch, singing Black-capped Chickadees, and singing House Finches. Although the water level was low at Hecla Lake, there were a number of interesting birds about. We got good scope views of Green-winged Teal, Ring-necked Duck, and Northern Shoveler. A group of Cackling Geese, conveniently hanging out with some Canada Geese, afforded some good comparison between these very similar-looking species. It still somehow seems like recent news, but I realized in writing this report that it will be 20 years this year since Cackling Goose was split off as a separate species from Canada Goose by the American Ornithological Society (Banks, et al. 2004). One of the best finds for the day at Hecla Lake was two American White Pelicans, which as of this writing appears to be the first eBird report of American White Pelicans for the season in Boulder County! Spring is indeed on its way.

Cackling Geese. Photo by Sarah Spotten.

Thanks to everyone who joined us this morning for some good birding and good company. See you next time – until then, happy spring migration!

eBird checklist: https://ebird.org/checklist/S164242686

Waneka Lake Park, Greenlee Preserve, Hecla Lake, and environs, Boulder, Colorado, US

28 species (+2 other taxa)

Cackling Goose (Branta hutchinsii)  5

Canada Goose (Branta canadensis)  28

Northern Shoveler (Spatula clypeata)  4

Gadwall (Mareca strepera)  14

Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos)  3

Green-winged Teal (Anas crecca)  19

Ring-necked Duck (Aythya collaris)  5

Hooded Merganser (Lophodytes cucullatus)  7

Common Merganser (Mergus merganser)  2

Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon) (Columba livia (Feral Pigeon))  16

Eurasian Collared-Dove (Streptopelia decaocto)  2

Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura)  1

American White Pelican (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos)  2

Cooper’s Hawk (Accipiter cooperii)  2

Sharp-shinned/Cooper’s Hawk (Accipiter striatus/cooperii)  1

Downy Woodpecker (Dryobates pubescens)  1

Northern Flicker (Colaptes auratus)  8

Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata)  1

Black-billed Magpie (Pica hudsonia)  1

American Crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos)  9

Common Raven (Corvus corax)  2

Black-capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapillus)  6

White-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta carolinensis)  1

European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris)  30

American Robin (Turdus migratorius)  1

House Sparrow (Passer domesticus)  4

House Finch (Haemorhous mexicanus)  10

Dark-eyed Junco (Junco hyemalis)  1

Dark-eyed Junco (Pink-sided) (Junco hyemalis mearnsi)  2

Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus)  10

References:

Banks, Richard C., Carla Cicero, Jon L. Dunn, Andrew W. Kratter, Pamela C. Rasmussen, J. V. Remsen, James D. Rising, and Douglas F. Stotz. Forty-Fifth Supplement to the American Ornithologists’ Union Check-List of North American Birds. The Auk, Volume 121, Issue 3, 1 July 2004, Pages 985–995, https://doi.org/10.1093/auk/121.3.985

February 11, 2023 Bird Walk to Waneka Lake and Greenlee Preserve with Jamie Simo

Posted on February 13, 2023 by - Bird Walks, Blog

After a very cold and windy Thursday scouting out Waneka Lake and Greenlee Preserve for February’s bird walk, it was a relief for Saturday’s sun and calm winds. While the lake was mostly frozen, there were a couple circles of open water and we were able to get decent looks at Green-winged Teal and a lone, male Common Merganser. From a distance, the creamy patch near the Green-winged Teal’s tail is a great field mark to look for. Males in breeding plumage also have a white, vertical stripe on their “shoulder,” which is visible from the side.

Male Green-winged Teal. Note the vertical slash near the head and the creamy patch near the tail. Photo by Jamie Simo.

Although there wasn’t much open water for geese, we saw many Canada and Cackling Geese flying over. In one group there was even a Snow Goose. Snow Geese will often intermix with flocks of Canada Geese, so keep an eye out for anything out of the ordinary!

We had better luck with songbirds than waterfowl. Before we had even left the parking lot, we were treated to a cacophony of European Starling chatter as they scouted out nesting cavities in the big trees between the parking lot and lake. Northern Flickers were also active pecking around on the ground possibly for their favorite food of ants. We even saw one female Northern Flicker with yellow wing and tail linings, a sign of a hybrid red-shafted x yellow-shafted flicker.

At the feeders near the shack we were treated to great views of Spotted Towhees and White-crowned Sparrows. Spotted Towhees are particularly striking with their black, orange, and white coloring. Towhees love tangles of brush and as ground feeders can be attracted to millet on a low platform or sprinkled on the ground.

Spotted Towhee. Photo by Jamie Simo.

Probably the highlight of the morning for me was the immature Red-tailed Hawk that posed in a tree not that far away from us then soared low directly over our heads. At the end of the walk she (female raptors are bigger than males and this was a fairly large bird) even landed on a power pole directly over our heads. Red-tailed Hawks are extremely variable, but even though immature Red-tails lack the red tail, you may still be able to distinguish them by their chocolate brown head, belly band (can be variable, but the belly band was thick and obvious on this bird), white scapular (shoulder) V, and, if soaring, their bulging secondary wing feathers and dark patagial marks.

All in all, it was a gorgeous day for birding and we saw 25 species. Not bad for mid-February! Happy birding!

Waneka Lake/Greenlee Preserve, Boulder, Colorado, US
25 species (+4 other taxa)

Snow Goose  1
Cackling Goose  4
Canada Goose  36
Cackling/Canada Goose  47
Mallard  5
Green-winged Teal  4
Common Merganser  1
Eurasian Collared-Dove  5
Ring-billed Gull  8
Red-tailed Hawk  2
Downy Woodpecker (Rocky Mts.)  2
Northern Flicker  4
Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted)  1
Blue Jay  3
American Crow  2
Black-capped Chickadee  5
White-breasted Nuthatch (Interior West)  2
European Starling  16
Townsend’s Solitaire  1
American Robin  1
House Sparrow  6
House Finch  6
Dark-eyed Junco  1
Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored)  1
Dark-eyed Junco (Oregon)  1
White-crowned Sparrow  8
Song Sparrow  2
Spotted Towhee  6
Red-winged Blackbird  14

Waneka Lake/Greenlee Preserve, November 13th–with Jamie Simo

Posted on November 16, 2021 by - Bird Walks, Blog

European Starling in June showing mostly worn feather edges. Photo by Jamie Simo.

It was a gusty morning this past Saturday at Waneka Lake and Greenlee Preserve, but thankfully that didn’t keep us from seeing some great birds, including some small songbirds that tend to hunker down deep in the brush on windy days. We were immediately greeted in the parking lot by a flock of European Starlings. I have mixed

Male Red-winged Blackbird showing brown feather edges in December. Photo by Jamie Simo.

feelings about these invasive birds, but they are very adaptable and quite beautiful. The name “starling” comes from the white speckle pattern they wear in the winter. Rather than molting into new plumage in the spring, abrasion gradually wears the pale tips off their feathers leaving behind the irridescent green- and purple-black feathers they wear during courtship. Male Red-winged Blackbirds’ glossy black appearance in spring and summer is also due to abrasion rather than molt.

One special song bird we briefly saw was a White-throated Sparrow. This chunky little sparrow is common in the Eastern U.S., but is relatively rare here in Colorado, though it’s shown up at Waneka Lake the last few winters. White-throated Sparrows have head stripes like our usual White-crowned Sparrow, but it has yellow lores (the space between the eye and the beak), and, obviously, a white throat. On their regular wintering grounds they’ll often practice singing just like our White-crowned Sparrows will. Their song is often mnemonicized as “Old Sam Peabody Peabody Peabody.”

Winter along the Front Range is prime duck and goose season and Waneka Lake/Greenlee Preserve didn’t disappoint. At Greenlee Preserve were were able to get great looks at both dabbling ducks such as Mallards and American Wigeon, as well as diving ducks like Buffleheads and Ring-necked Ducks. Dabbling Ducks are surface-feeding ducks. Rather than diving under the water to find food such as fish, they can be seen with their butts tipped up in the air while their heads are busy underwater sucking up aquatic plants or small insects. Because they feed on the surface, dabbling ducks are more agile on land with feet more in the center of their bodies while diving ducks have legs and feet placed well back on their bodies to act as little rudders when swimming underwater. 

The highlight of our trip was the 3 most likely hybrid Canada x Snow Geese we saw in a large flock of Canada and Cackling Geese on Waneka Lake proper. These geese were distinguished from “blue phase” Snow Geese by their uniformly dark bodies with no white on the tertials and by their greyish-pink bills.

Hybrid Canada x Snow Goose. Photo by Jamie Simo.

A great day for birding!

Waneka Lake/Greenlee Preserve

27 species (+1 other taxa)

Cackling Goose  100

Canada Goose  400

Snow x Canada Goose (hybrid)  3   

American Wigeon  5

Mallard  66

Ring-necked Duck  3

Bufflehead  5

Common Goldeneye  1

Eurasian Collared-Dove  3

American Coot  2

Ring-billed Gull  9

Sharp-shinned Hawk  1

Bald Eagle  2

Red-tailed Hawk  1

Northern Flicker  1

Blue Jay  3

Black-billed Magpie  1

American Crow  3

Common Raven  1

Black-capped Chickadee  7

White-breasted Nuthatch (Interior West)  1

European Starling  30

American Robin  3

House Sparrow  3

House Finch  3

White-crowned Sparrow  4

White-throated Sparrow  1

Red-winged Blackbird  30

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