Yellow-breasted Chat (c) Bill Schmoker
We had glorious weather for the Front Range Birding Company open house, and ten of us started off the day by going birding at Chatfield before joining the festivities at the store. Three species dominated the morning: House Wren, Yellow Warbler, and Yellow-breasted Chat. They seemed to be everywhere.
A few other highlights were the great looks we had of a male Common Yellowthroat, a few fleeting looks at Gray Catbirds and a single male Western Tanager, and then there was a female Black-headed Grosbeak that stuck around, but was mostly foraging methodically deep in a bush and good looks were brief.
Yellow Warbler (c) Bill Schmoker
House Wren (c) Bill Schmoker
Common Yellowthroat (c) Bill Schmoker
At 10:30 we made our way over to the banding station run each spring at Chatfield by the Bird Conservancy of the Rockies. For the next hour we were totally enthralled getting to see Yellow Warblers, Common Yellowthroats, Bullock’s Orioles, and a Northern Rough-winged Swallow in the hand.
Breeding season is in full swing, and there’s something new and wonderful to see almost every day. I hope you’re getting your fair share!
Best, Chuck
Chatfield State Park, May 13
32 species
Canada Goose (Branta canadensis) 6
Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) 2
American White Pelican (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos) 7
Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura) 1
Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) 1
Eurasian Collared-Dove (Streptopelia decaocto) 1
Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura) 1
Broad-tailed Hummingbird (Selasphorus platycercus) 6
Downy Woodpecker (Picoides pubescens) 1
Northern Flicker (Colaptes auratus) 1
American Kestrel (Falco sparverius) 1
Black-billed Magpie (Pica hudsonia) 1
American Crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos) 3
Northern Rough-winged Swallow (Stelgidopteryx serripennis) 4
Tree Swallow (Tachycineta bicolor) 9
Black-capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapillus) 3
House Wren (Troglodytes aedon) 32
American Robin (Turdus migratorius) 1
Gray Catbird (Dumetella carolinensis) 3
European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris) 2
Common Yellowthroat (Geothlypis trichas) 4
Yellow Warbler (Setophaga petechia) 48
Yellow-breasted Chat (Icteria virens) 17
Spotted Towhee (Pipilo maculatus) 4
Western Tanager (Piranga ludoviciana) 1
Black-headed Grosbeak (Pheucticus melanocephalus) 1
Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus) 17
Western Meadowlark (Sturnella neglecta) 1
Brown-headed Cowbird (Molothrus ater) 4
Bullock’s Oriole (Icterus bullockii) 2
House Finch (Haemorhous mexicanus) 2
American Goldfinch (Spinus tristis) 5
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