Well, we finally made it to Walker Ranch after last month’s aborted attempt! The Meyer’s Gulch trail is one of the best places for foothills birding in Boulder County. It’s also spectacular in the spring with its wildflowers and butterflies.
This past Saturday the weather was warm and sunny, but not too hot. We couldn’t have asked for a better morning. Before we even left the parking lot we had some great birds, including a singing Green-tailed Towhee and a Pine Siskin. As we started off down the trail the number of singing Vesper Sparrows was incredible. Vesper Sparrows are a grassland bird with a prominent white eye-ring, streaked breast, and white outer tail feathers. If you can get a good view of one (which is entirely possible because they like to sing from an elevated perch), you may see the little reddish patch on their shoulder. Their song starts off with a couple of whistles followed by a trilling song.
Vesper Sparrow. Photo by Jamie Simo
As we continued along the trail, we were stopped by the sight of a couple Western Bluebirds and got great looks at our most common and least shy flycatcher, the Western Wood-Pewee. Western Wood-Pewees almost always like to sit out in the open and they can be distinguished from other flycatchers by their relatively long wings, lack of eye-ring, and still tail (many flycatchers tail bob).
Western Wood-Pewee. Photo by Jamie Simo
As mentioned previously, Walker Ranch is a great place for wildflowers. Some of the most notable were western wallflower, blue-mist penstemon, and locoweed (mistakenly identified by me on Saturday as a type of vetch). Broad-tailed Hummingbirds were abundant as they took advantage of the nectar and one even helpfully posed for several minutes so we could get a look at him and his gorgeous gorget.
Other species we saw on our walk were Chipping Sparrows, a Dark-eyed Junco, a Western Tanager, a lone male Red Crossbill, and several Plumbeous Vireos. Though remaining unseen, we also heard the songs of Macgillivray’s Warbler as well as Warbling Vireo.
Unfortunately we didn’t make it too far along the trail before having to turn around, but only because there was just so much to look at and listen to!
Walker Ranch–Meyers Gulch, Boulder, Colorado, US 29 species (+1 other taxa)
Broad-tailed Hummingbird 3 Red-tailed Hawk 1 Northern Flicker 2 Western Wood-Pewee 5 Cordilleran Flycatcher 3 Plumbeous Vireo 3 Warbling Vireo 3 Steller’s Jay 2 Black-billed Magpie 3 American Crow 4 Common Raven 2 Mountain Chickadee 3 Violet-green Swallow 3 White-breasted Nuthatch 1 Pygmy Nuthatch 2 House Wren 7 Western Bluebird 2 American Robin 7 House Finch 1 Red Crossbill 1 Pine Siskin 1 Lesser Goldfinch 3 Chipping Sparrow 2 Dark-eyed Junco 1 Dark-eyed Junco (Gray-headed) 1 Vesper Sparrow 6 Green-tailed Towhee 2 Brown-headed Cowbird 1 MacGillivray’s Warbler 1 Western Tanager 1
A hot, sunny morning awaited us at Walker Ranch for our June 11, 2022 second Saturday bird outing with Front Range Birding Company Boulder. Walker Ranch is a Boulder County Open Space property located in the foothills at about 7,300’ elevation. The Meyers Homestead Trail follows Meyers Gulch, a drainage that feeds into South Boulder Creek, as it moves through a landscape dominated by open Ponderosa Pine forest. On the day of our outing, everything was verdant with late-spring growth, spurred on by recent snowfall and rain, and a few wildflowers and their attendant butterflies brought a pop of color to the landscape.
Female Lesser Goldfinch. Photo by Jamie Simo.
Quite a few birds were already in breeding mode, with several species singing and a few species visiting nests. We observed Mountain Chickadees and Western Bluebirds visiting nest boxes, a female Lesser Goldfinch busily constructing her nest in the top of a small conifer, and a Western Wood-Pewee building a nest in a low-hanging branch right over the trail.
Speaking of the nest-building Western Wood-Pewee, we had an interesting debate in the field about whether this bird was in fact a Western Wood-Pewee (in genus Contopus), or one of the very similar small flycatchers in genus Empidonax. One feature this bird showed that was confounding us was a partial white eyering, just a spot behind the eye, which recalled Empidonax flycatchers with less-distinct eyerings like Willow Flycatcher, and the smaller Hammond’s Flycatcher. Wood-pewees usually do not show any eyering at all. But as with field identification in general, it’s best not to rely on any one field mark in order to make a ID – one should evaluate as many lines of evidence as possible and consider which of the possible IDs is best supported by the evidence. This turns out to be very important for visually identifying North American flycatchers, many of which can have overlapping physical features and can be very difficult to ID to species by sight, even in the hand (we talked in the field about how sound is actually the best way to identify North American flycatchers…but our flycatcher in question was silent as it went about its nest-building work).
Rather than plumage features, the structure of our flycatcher was more helpful. Our flycatcher was long and lanky like a wood-pewee, with a deeply notched tail, long undertail coverts and long primary projection/long wings ending about halfway down the length of the tail when folded. It showed a peaked crown most of the time we watched it. We found it building a nest in a habitat where one is less likely to find Willow and Hammond’s Flycatcher breeding and more likely to find Western Wood-Pewee breeding in Colorado: open Ponderosa Pine forest. One plumage characteristic that was more useful than the partial eyering was the gray centers to the otherwise whitish undertail coverts on our mystery bird – this is a feature of wood-pewees that separates them from genus Empidonax. Only one other member of genus Contopus that sports dark centers on the undertail coverts was likely to be at Meyers Gulch that day: Olive-sided Flycatcher. But Olive-sided Flycatcher has a proportionally larger head, heftier bill and a much more prominent dark “vest” on its front than our bird was showing. So, adding up all of the evidence, Western Wood-Pewee it was.
Western Tanager. Photo by Jamie Simo.
The springtime earbirding at Meyer’s Gulch also did not disappoint. We heard six species of sparrow singing all along the trail: Chipping, Vesper, Song, Lincoln’s, and Green-tailed and Spotted Towhees (towhees are also sparrows). We even caught fleeting looks at some of these sparrows, especially Green-tailed Towhee, although the Lincoln’s Sparrows and Spotted Towhees remained mostly unseen as they sang. Several unseen Warbling Vireos were heard singing along the trail. We even got to hear a few snatches of song from a briefly-seen male Cassin’s Finch, whose song is a simpler, shorter set of warbles than its more common relative, the familiar House Finch, but that still has that finch-y je ne sais quoi. A male Western Tanager was heard singing at one point along the trail, which gave us the opportunity to talk about how their song sounds like a burrier version of the American Robin’s familiar song. Later on, Mr. Tanager graced us with his presence in the top of a tree where we could actually see him and appreciate the pop of color he brought to the springtime landscape as well.
Juvenile Western Bluebird. Photo by Chris Friedman.
Walker Ranch is a fantastic place to go in summer for birds, butterflies, and blossoms. On Saturday, July 10th, 10 of us met up at the Meyer’s Gulch (also called Meyer’s Homestead) trailhead. Right off the bat we were greeted by a trio of mule deer bucks. A “bachelor herd” such as this one is usually comprised of immature males that have left their parent herd, but haven’t yet gained a harem of their own. These guys were almost completely unconcerned by us as we organized in the parking lot prior to our hike.
Every day is different when it comes to birding. While my Friday scouting trip was entirely bereft of bluebirds, a small flock put in an appearance to the delight of all on Saturday, including at least one immature bird distinguished by its spotted breast. Boulder County Open Space volunteers maintain the bluebird boxes along Meyer’s Gulch and Western (and sometimes Mountain) Bluebirds regularly set up shop in them. The mix of open Ponderosa woodland and meadow is the perfect habitat for Western Bluebirds, which are larger and a darker cobalt blue than their Eastern counterparts.
Lincoln’s Sparrow. Photo by Chris Friedman.
We also had a good day for sparrows. An especial treat was the pair of Lincoln’s Sparrows that made themselves known on the trek back to the parking lot. Lincoln’s Sparrows can often be confused for Song Sparrows and, to make it even more difficult, they can co-occur in the same wet meadow habitats. However, Lincoln’s Sparrows are smaller and more “refined” than their larger breathren with narrow, distinct breast streaks, a buffy wash on the breast, and often a more visible crest. They also often tend to be a little shyer and more retiring, but, happily, we were treated to great views of, and even some singing from, these subtly handsome birds.
Perhaps our most cooperative bird of the day was the Western Wood-Pewee. One of our most conspicuous flycatchers, this dull brown bird likes to sit upright on exposed perches, making it very easy to see. The same could not be said for the MacGillivray’s Warbler that we heard streamside, but that wouldn’t come out of the tangle of willows he was hidden in.
Meadow anemone. Photo by Jamie Simo.
In addition to birds, we had a great day for butterflies. Just a few of the butterflies we saw were the hoary comma, Weidemeyer’s admiral, and several species of blue. They were particularly attracted to the wet sand and pools of water along sections of the trail, a behavior called “puddling,” that allows the butterflies to ingest salts and minerals they don’t get from feeding on nectar. A big thanks to Chris Friedman who helped us identify the many butterflies and skippers we encountered! Wildflowers of note included Indian paintbrush, meadow anemone, sulfur flower, and sticky geranium. All in all, a fantastic day!
Walker Ranch–Meyers Gulch
Jul 10, 2021
30 taxa
2 Mourning Dove
9 Broad-tailed Hummingbird
1 Red-tailed Hawk
2 Northern Flicker
4 Western Wood-Pewee
1 Hammond’s/Dusky Flycatcher
1 Cordilleran Flycatcher
2 Warbling Vireo
2 Steller’s Jay
3 Black-billed Magpie
3 American Crow
1 Black-capped Chickadee
8 Mountain Chickadee
1 Violet-green Swallow
1 Red-breasted Nuthatch
2 White-breasted Nuthatch
6 Pygmy Nuthatch
4 House Wren
6 Western Bluebird – FL
3 American Robin
2 Pine Siskin
1 Chipping Sparrow
1 Dark-eyed Junco (Gray-headed)
2 Vesper Sparrow
1 Song Sparrow
2 Lincoln’s Sparrow
1 Green-tailed Towhee
1 Spotted Towhee
1 MacGillivray’s Warbler
3 Western Tanager
