Woodhouse’s Scrub-Jay (c) Bill Schmoker
We had a warm morning along the South Platte in the vicinity of the Audubon Nature Center, and bird activity was a bit slow. However, if one just shows up there will always be cool things to observe. For starters there has been an apparent influx of Woodhouse’s Scrub-Jays into Chatfield State Park, which from my previous experience there is an unusual event. People occasionally see one or two, but nothing like the number we had on Saturday, sixteen.
One of the highlights of the morning was the number of Cedar Waxwings we saw, adults and juveniles. They were flycatching over the river as well as foraging in the Russian Olives. In that same vicinity of good streamside vegetation we found three migrant Wilson’s Warblers. These guys breed up in high elevation willow carrs, and then are a regularly occurring fall migrant in the Denver area. Also, had some nice Gray Catbirds also along the river.
Lesser Goldfinch (c) Bill Schmoker
Out in the more open areas some large sunflowers proved attractive to a good number of Lesser Goldfinches, while the thistles and other weeds were being worked over by some Chipping Sparrows and Vesper Sparrows. A number of our birds today were juveniles which can make them even trickier than usual to identify.
Hope to see you out on another walk soon!
Chuck
Chatfield SP–Audubon Center & Trails, Sep 5, 2020
27 species (+2 other taxa)
Eurasian Collared-Dove 1
Broad-tailed Hummingbird 4
hummingbird sp. 7
Double-crested Cormorant 2
Bald Eagle 1
Red-tailed Hawk 1
Downy Woodpecker 1
Northern Flicker 4
American Kestrel 3
Western Wood-Pewee 1
Blue Jay 6
Woodhouse’s Scrub-Jay 16
Black-billed Magpie 1
Black-capped Chickadee 7
Mountain Chickadee 2
White-breasted Nuthatch 1
House Wren 1
Gray Catbird 3
American Robin 36
Cedar Waxwing 18
House Finch 11
Lesser Goldfinch 12
American Goldfinch 3
Chipping Sparrow 12
Spizella sp. 9
Vesper Sparrow 8
Song Sparrow 1
Spotted Towhee 2
Wilson’s Warbler 3
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