So after work, I gave her a call, she cleared her schedule, and we went birding.
First, she showed me the breat-horned owl nest near her house. One bird on the nest, too low to see clearly, but a second owl sleeping in a neaby tree, in plain sight! Camera time (you know me). Unfortunately, as dark as it was with the impending storm, 1/40 of a second and my camera's autofocus managed to blur most of the pics. The best one is below.
Cassin's finches objectied to me standing too near her feeder.
She also showed me the red-tailed nest two blocks from my house (I don't wander the neighborhood much), which might explain the hawk that took a pass at one of my landlady's small, brown, furry dogs a few weeks ago. The dogs now wear orange bandanas that say Peace and Love. Maybe that will help.
We drove through Hotchkiss and looked at a couple more red-tail nests, then decided to see if the barn owl was home. No luck, although the signs certainly point to it being there. Lots of fresh pellets, feathers, and whitewash, although it seems to be sharing the grove with EC doves and magpies. The pheasant right down the road seemed to me to be handy food for an owl.
We wandered down to the hatchery, where we were mostly skunked, although we saw a few waterfowl.
Back towards Hotchkiss, we found another red-tailed nest in a fencerow cottonwood.
We headed south onto Scenic Mesa, where we encountered a loggerhead shrike in a roadside bush. By the time I stopped, it had taken off, but Jane relocated it in another bush, where it appeared to have some small, meaty food item. When it flew off again, we checked the bush and found the remains of a small mammal, possibly a meadow vole, impaled on a stick.
A few more pheasants two golden eagles, and one small band of vesper sparrows completed our Scenic Mesa side trip.
We stopped at the cemetery and looked around. While the wind had stopped, the birds were not out and about in great numbers, and the highlight was a small band of a dozen or so yellow-rumped warblers headed NE.
We stopped to look at the golden eagle nests off of K50 road, and saw one on a nest and another in a nearby tree.
Home and darkness came next, but it was fun to finally get out with a neighbor (all of six blocks, maybe. Sigh.) and see some sights.
Don't forget the BCAS Confluence birding and beaverproofing trip tomorrow!
Dennis Garrison
Paonia
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