As Evergreen Audubon continues to expand its network of local organizations with whom we share an affinity for nature, conservation, and education, we began with P.E.O. (a Philanthropic and Educational Organization) by giving one of their four Evergreen chapters a presentation about Evergreen Audubon back in November.  This was followed up this past week by taking some of their members and spouses on a bird walk down at South Platte Park.  P.E.O. is an international women’s organization based in the U.S., that promotes educational opportunities for women through scholarships, grants, and low-cost loans. The organization also supports Cottey College, a private women’s college founded by P.E.O. in 1884 in Nevada, Missouri. The chapter we are coming to know contributes to Bootstraps, a mountain area non-profit that provides scholarships and interest-free loans to local promising high school seniors, and other local non-profits.

With regard to our bird walk at South Platte Park, we enjoyed seeing a nice mix of ducks on the lakes there.  And we had two special birds which always adds a bit of spice to these outings.  First of all, we had a single Horned Grebe.  Grebes superficially resemble other diving birds that feed on small aquatic animals such as loons and coots, but there are enough differences for them to have their own family. There are seven North American species, four of which breed in Colorado and two of which pass through Colorado during migration.  Horned Grebes belong to this latter group, showing up in the fall from mid-October to mid-November and in the spring from mid-March to mid-May.  So, we caught our bird right at the beginning of when we can start to expect them.  In their winter plumage of black, gray, and white they are relatively non-descript, but as they migrate north they begin to acquire a strikingly different breeding plumage: chestnut neck and flanks, and black head with a large erectable yellow swath (the “horn”) extending back from their red eye.  Our bird was still largely in its non-breeding plumage, but we could make out a few whisps of yellow starting to show behind the eye.

Our other “good” bird of the morning was a Northern Shrike.  We get two species of shrikes here in Colorado, the Northern Shrike in the winter and the Loggerhead Shrike in the summer.  These are fierce predatory songbirds that feed on small mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and insects.  Lacking the powerful feet of larger raptors for punching and grasping, they do their prey in with their pointed raptorial bill pinching the spinal cord to induce paralysis, and then vigorously shaking their prey with enough force to break its neck.  For some reason the genus for shrikes is Lanius, meaning butcher; I can’t imagine why.  Then, to top it off, for food storage they impale their prey on thorns, twigs, and barbed wire fences.

It was a good morning sharing some birds with the P.E.O folks and we look forward to doing so again.

South Platte Park–C470 area, Mar 13, 2023
Number of Taxa: 28
Number of participants: 10

3 Canada Goose
65 Northern Shoveler
7 Gadwall
40 Mallard
2 Green-winged Teal
4 Lesser Scaup
15 Bufflehead
18 Common Goldeneye
20 Hooded Merganser
15 Common Merganser
2 Ruddy Duck
1 Pied-billed Grebe
1 Horned Grebe
4 Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon)
35 Ring-billed Gull
1 Red-tailed Hawk
1 Belted Kingfisher
4 Northern Flicker
1 Northern Shrike
1 Black-billed Magpie
2 American Crow
1 Common Raven
14 Black-capped Chickadee
1 White-breasted Nuthatch
6 European Starling
11 American Robin
3 Song Sparrow
7 Red-winged Blackbird