As with prior springs, this was a productive outing visiting ponds and wetlands in Weld County, and we ended up with 58 species.

The whole Bear Creek riparian corridor from Morrison to the confluence with the South Platte can harbor some interesting birds, and both the Bear Creek Greenbelt and Bear Creek Park have ponds and good patches of wetlands.

We caught a small taste of winter for the start to our Saturday visit to the oxymoronic Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge, but thenRead More

Now that we have all of our Christmas Bird Count (CBC) data in, and have sent that off to National Audubon, it’s time to share a few more details from this year’s count.

On a warm winter day we recorded 58 raptors representing nine species as we made our way from Wiggins, Colorado to the Rocky Mountain Arsenal.

Saturday morning the temps at the Wheat Ridge Greenbelt were in the teens and a few of the “lakes” were frozen or mostly frozen over.  Braving the initial cold we ended up with an incredible 45 species.

Despite a shortage of waterfowl, we had a few other water-related species: Double-crested Cormorant, Great Blue Heron, American White Pelican, and two piscivorous raptors – Osprey and Bald Eagle.  

These Dawn Chorus gatherings are truly great!   Not only did our group of 40 participants end up eventually with a wonderful variety of birds (43 species), but, as usual, we had an equally diverse offering of palate-pleasing breakfast foods and coffee.