Denver
Area
July
20-27, 2003
- narrated
by Henry Detwiler
101
species total
Click on
thumbnail pictures for full-sized shots.
Although hot by Denver standards, it
was outstanding weather for this Yuma resident.
I flew up to the mile-high city for a week of Dreamweaver &
Cold Fusion training, and took advantage of ˝ day on Sunday, time
before & after class, and the Saturday following training to find
all the birds, bugs, and beasts I could.
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Can you see the ptarmigan?
(click it for the full-sized version)
White-tailed Ptarmigan |
I was fortunate
to have Richard Stevens join me on Sunday afternoon to help me find
the elusive White-tailed Ptarmigan at Rocky Mountain National Park.
We marched through mist & light rain & cold, and
finally, sunshine! As I was about to give up, I just about stepped on this fine
fellow (1st picture).
A short while later, as Rich was trying to relocate our
original bird
for Tom & Carol from Wisconsin, I found this second individual
in a picturesque setting.
It was a life bird for me—and for Tom!
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| Cherry Creek
Reservoir was close to my motel & class, so I went there
several times to look for both birds and dragonflies, like this Striped
Meadowhawk. |
Striped Meadowhawk
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American White Pelican
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The reservoir
harbored many American White
Pelicans, Double-crested Cormorants, and both
Western & Clark's Grebes. Black-billed Magpies,
meadowlarks, and Yellow Warblers plied the fields & trees.
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Prairie Dogs
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Not a mile from my
motel and the Denver Tech Center was a large colony of prairie dogs.
Both Swainson’s & Red-tailed Hawks patrolled the area,
watching for an easy meal
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A shallow,
cat-tail-ringed pond a few miles from the Denver Tech Center
yielded some of the best dragonflies of the trip, including a
12-Spotted Darner and this Common Whitetail.
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Common Whitetail
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American Goldfinch at Cherry
Creek
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At the south end of Cherry Creek Park were thousands of
sunflowers, which provided food for hundreds of American
Goldfinches. Other nice birds in the area included a pair of
Eastern Kingbirds and a Gray Catbird.
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A trip up to
Reynolds Park in the Rockies, at about 7500', yielded many
beautiful wildflowers and birds.
This lightly-used park (compared to others I saw) was less than an
hour from my class, and offered fine trails through the meadows
and forests. This Cordilleran Flycatcher was too
intent on snapping up insects to worry much about me. I
was searching for rare woodpeckers, but found only Hairies &
Downies.
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Fields of flowers -
Rudbeckia
Cordilleran Flycatcher
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PAGE 2 - More Pictures
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