There are three main waterways that run down out of the Front Range near Denver, the South Platte River, Bear Creek, and Clear Creek. All three have wonderful cottonwood gallery forests along them, and local municipalities have established public park lands and bike paths along extensive stretches. We take particular interest in Bear Creek since its primary headwaters are up on Mount Blue Sky and it runs right through Evergreen. As it leaves the foothills at Morrison it enters Lakewood’s Bear Creek Lake Park, then passes briefly through the Fox Hollow Golf Course before entering the three-mile-long Bear Creek Greenbelt. At Wadsworth it enters Bear Valley Park, and then at Sheridan it enters Bear Creek Park which runs as far as Lowell Blvd. These last two parks are administered by Denver. From there on there are no more parks, but the Bear Creek Trail continues to parallel the creek for about one more mile to the confluence with the South Platte. This whole Bear Creek riparian corridor from Morrison to the confluence with the Platte can harbor some interesting birds, and both the Bear Creek Greenbelt and Bear Creek Park have ponds and good patches of wetlands.
Fourteen of us elected to try our luck at the Greenbelt this past Wednesday. Though we didn’t have a huge variety of waterfowl we had great close looks at the ones we did see and took great enjoyment in that. Getting up close and personal with Hooded Mergansers is a real treat. We were particularly successful in getting to see a good variety of raptors – a kettle of six Turkey Vultures catching a thermal and spiraling upward; a dashing Sharp-shinned Hawk that then perched briefly; an adult Cooper’s Hawk that successfully caught a rodent and kept returning to its same perch; a few Red-tailed Hawks with a pair mating; and a high soaring Northern Harrier. A bit more on this last bird. While we become quite familiar with Harriers floating and tipping low over wetlands, in migration they can soar quite high in their northward movement.
In the newly arrived migrant category, we enjoyed hearing and seeing a couple of Say’s Phoebes. I had hoped we would see some Tree Swallows but whiffed on them. Finally, we had nice long looks at a little flock of Cedar Waxwings, and got to note the two longitudinal white stripes on their wings making them easy to identify from behind.
I hope that everyone is starting to see newly arrived migrants. The Mountain Bluebirds in the Evergreen vicinity have certainly been a welcome sight.
Good birding, Chuck
Bear Creek Greenbelt
Mar 25, 2026
32 species
14 participants
Cackling Goose 15
Canada Goose 33
Gadwall 11
American Wigeon 2
Mallard 17
Hooded Merganser 8
Mourning Dove 3
Killdeer 1
Ring-billed Gull 2
Turkey Vulture 6
Sharp-shinned Hawk 1
Cooper’s Hawk 1
Northern Harrier 1
Red-tailed Hawk 4
Downy Woodpecker (Eastern) 7
Northern Flicker 34
American Kestrel 1
Say’s Phoebe 2
Blue Jay 4
Black-billed Magpie 13
Black-capped Chickadee 20
Bushtit 12
White-breasted Nuthatch 4
Red-breasted Nuthatch 1
European Starling 48
American Robin 22
Cedar Waxwing 10
House Finch 8
American Goldfinch 3
Song Sparrow 14
Spotted Towhee 2
Red-winged Blackbird 55