On Saturday I mentioned to our group a few species that I hoped we might see at the Wheat Ridge Greenbelt.  One of these was Wilson’s Snipe which is found year-round in eastern Colorado, and which I’ve seen a few times this winter at the Greenbelt (sometimes more than one individual).  We have both residents and migrants in eastern Colorado with peak abundance generally December through mid-January and again mid-March through mid-May.  However, one time I fortuitously had 57 on Aug 29, 2018 at Walden Ponds in Boulder – obviously a fall migration phenomenon.  Unfortunately, for our Saturday outing we struck out.

The other birds I mentioned that we might be lucky enough to see were definite migrants that winter to the south of us and then come to possibly breed here or to pass through as they head further north.  They were Blue-winged Teal, Cinnamon Teal, Tree Swallow, and Common Grackle.  We struck out on all four species, but here are some historical arrival dates for these guys.  For Blue-winged Teal, I’ve seen them in our vicinity as early as 3/25, and eBird shows that they have arrived as early as 3/15.  For Cinnamon Teal, I’ve seen them as early as 3/6, and eBird has records from late February.  For Tree Swallow, I’ve seen them as early as 3/17, and eBird corroborates that date.  For Common Grackle, I’ve seen them as early as 3/21, and that’s when eBird shows them arriving.  So, we had a good shot at all four, and I bet a return to the Greenbelt within the coming week could prove successful.

Moving on from what we did not see to what we did see; we had eleven species of ducks.  There are potentially about twenty duck species we could see this time of year, but we were gratified by those we did see.  Definitely there was some early courtship and pairing-up in evidence.  We were also fortunate to see a dark-morph Red-tailed Hawk that is apparently a resident in the area as it’s been seen with some regularity in recent years.  The island at Tabor Lake is once again covered with a slew of nesting Double-crested Cormorants (we counted about 105), and there were 6 Great Blue Herons.  Some good individual bird sightings included one Pied-billed Grebe, one Cooper’s Hawk, one American Kestrel, one American Dipper, and one American Goldfinch.  Of note were the ubiquitous Northern Flickers and Black-capped Chickadees, as well as the large number of singing Song Sparrows.

Ultimately, perhaps the bird of the day was one that we didn’t see but which honored us by vocalizing loudly while buried in some cattails within ten feet of us – a Virginia Rail.

Spring is cranking up; only a few more days until the Vernal Equinox, so I hope you’re as psyched as I am for the day-to-day wonder that’s going to be unfolding over the next couple of months.

Wheat Ridge Greenbelt
Mar 15, 2025
43 species (+1 other taxa)
13 Participants

Cackling Goose  70
Canada Goose  30
Cackling/Canada Goose  300
Northern Shoveler  180
Gadwall  150
American Wigeon  6
Mallard  80
Green-winged Teal  100
Redhead  4
Lesser Scaup  12
Bufflehead  24
Common Goldeneye  30
Hooded Merganser  19
Common Merganser  16
Eurasian Collared-Dove  3
Mourning Dove  9
Virginia Rail  1
American Coot  36
Killdeer  6
Ring-billed Gull  45
Pied-billed Grebe  1
Double-crested Cormorant  105
Great Blue Heron  6
Cooper’s Hawk  1
Red-tailed Hawk  4     1 dark morph
Belted Kingfisher  3
Downy Woodpecker (Eastern)  2
Northern Flicker  18
American Kestrel  1
Blue Jay  3
Black-billed Magpie  10
American Crow  5
Black-capped Chickadee  24
Bushtit  2
White-breasted Nuthatch  6
American Dipper  1
European Starling  13
American Robin  12
House Finch  12
American Goldfinch  1
Dark-eyed Junco  4
Song Sparrow  18
Spotted Towhee  6
Red-winged Blackbird  60