This morning I joined a bird walk led by Joey Kellner at Chatfield State Park. It was overcast and cool. We walked upstream of Kingfisher bridge (west) and at the Plum Creek nature area. One highlight included seeing a pair of nesting Red-eyed Vireos.

Red-eyed Vireo
On the band on the bird’s right leg, a pair of 2s, on one top of each other, is visible. Joey reached out to Meredith McBurney, who runs the bird banding station at the Audubon Nature Center adjacent to Chatfield. Here is her response:
This is really interesting…….I’ve banded a grand total of three REVIs [Red-eyed Vireos] at Chatfield in 18 years. This is definitely not the one from 2009 or 2021. I can see two numbers (both 2’s) on the band, and they are placed properly to be the bird from 2017 – Band number 2750-92175. Can’t say for positive, but the likelihood of it being a REVI banded elsewhere and breeding at Chatfield and having those 2 “2s” is pretty slim! Rob Raker got a shot of a banded REVI with its mate last year (able to get one number – a 5) and I guessed that one was this same bird as well. He (I sexed it based on its wing length) seems to enjoy being photographed! And is living a pretty long life!
Here’s another shot of the Red-eyed Vireo. Although the band is visible, the numbers are illegible . . . underscoring how difficult it is to be close enough to the bird to get a good shot and have the sun cooperate.

Red-eyed Vireo
Another highlight was seeing a juvenile Downy Woodpecker in a nesting cavity:

Downy Woodpecker
For most of the walk, we were within earshot of the calls of Yellow-breasted Chats. All told, we heard or saw over 50 species of birds, including several Snowy Egrets, and three types of sparrows: Brewer’s, Vesper, and Lark.In the afternoon my better half and I took the dog for a walk in the Bear Creek Greenbelt. Two Double-crested Cormorants were sunning themselves besides the remains of the beaver dam by the footbridge:

Double-crested Cormorants
We paused to watch a female House Finch gather nesting material:

House Finch

House Finch
Western Tiger Swallowtails are numerous this year.

Western Tiger Swallowtail