This morning three Red-tailed Hawks were active in the Bear Creek Greenbelt, west of Estes. It was a gray, overcast day with temps just below 40 degrees, and a little breeze.
I was able to photograph two of the hawks–neither of them part of the resident pair.
Here’s one of them:
Red-tailed Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Here’s the other:
Red-tailed Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
This morning I joined the walk that Joey Kellner leads monthly at Chatfield State Park. Townsend’s Solitaires were conspicuous. Here’s one after juniper berries:
Townsend’s Solitaire
Townsend’s Solitaire
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Most of the leaves have now fallen from the trees in the Bear Creek Greenbelt, which opens up possibilities to see more birds. Here’s a Red-tailed Hawk that is neither the resident female nor male. It’s possible it could be their sole offspring this year. The last time I saw this year’s offspring, it looked like this: Red-tailed Hawk Nestling on May 20, 2021
Red-tailed Hawk
Today on a lunch walk in the Bear Creek Greenbelt I found a collection of a dozen waterfowl:
Ten Ring-necked Ducks, one Redhead, and one Mallard
The two female Ring-necked Ducks:
Ring-necked Ducks
The Redhead:
Redhead
Along Bear Creek an American Dipper perched:
American Dipper
A couple of dragonflies are still hanging on:
Great Spreadwing
Variegated Meadowhawk
After work I led my better half to the part of Bear Creek where I’d seen the American Dipper earlier. We couldn’t find it from the south bank, but a while later when we walking along the north bank, I found it again:
American Dipper
A deer was heading west along the south bank:
In the last week I saw in the Bear Creek Greenbelt my first-of-season Yellow-rumped Warbler. A single bird, and on one day only.
Also the other day my better half and I saw a flock of 20 Cedar Waxwings. Today during a lunch walk I saw the Cedar Waxwings, who, along with several American Robins, were busy eating berries.
Cedar Waxwing
Cedar Waxwing
American Robin
Today I saw my first-of-season American Dipper in the greenbelt:
American Dipper
After work I took another walk and saw several first-of-season waterfowl at the greenbelt:
Ring-necked Ducks
Redhead
American Coot
Northern Shoveler
Eight Hooded Mergansers, fifteen or so Canada Geese, and numerous Mallards were also on the horseshoe pond by the Stone House.
For the first time in several weeks I spotted a Cooper’s Hawk:
Cooper’s Hawk
I’ve been seeing American Kestrels west of Estes lately. Here’s one above a prairie dog town:
American Kestrel
Finally, here are a couple of shots of probably the last dragonflies in the area this year:
Great Spreadwing
Great Spreadwing
This morning I joined a DFO (Denver Field Ornithologists)-sponsored birding outing to Standley Lake. Here are a few of the smaller birds we saw:
American Goldfinches
Lesser Goldfinch
American Tree Sparrow
Scenes from a Denver Field Ornithologists trip to Boulder County today:
View from Walden Ponds
Another view from Walden Ponds, a little later
Bald Eagle (immature)
Ferruginous Hawk
Golden Eagle appearing to dog a Bald Eagle (immature)
One of two raccoons we saw at the “raccoon condos” during our mid-morning walk in the Bear Creek Greenbelt:
Raccoon
On an afternoon walk in the Bear Creek Greenbelt I spotted three adult Red-tailed Hawks in a single bare tree. Two of them, on the left-hand side of the tree, were very vocal–they appeared to be screaming at each other. The third, by itself on the right-hand side of the tree, was quiet.
After looking at the pictures, I saw that one of the two vocal ones was banded–the resident female. I did not recognize the second vocal one or the third one, both of which have lighter eyes, indicating they may be younger adults.
Resident female Red-tailed Hawk (when I zoomed in on the band, I could read the numbers 9573)
Red-tailed Hawk (light eyes, pale feathers above the beak)
Red-tailed Hawk (light eyes)
In Bear Creek this afternoon:
Great Blue Heron
