Field Trip #3: Habitat and Scones Redux

When we arranged our carpool group for our second “real” field trip, George and I asked Martha if she was bringing the scones again.  We thought this was a grand idea:  a carpool buddy who not only drives in her comfy, fully-decked out Rav4, but also makes scones and coffee for the group.  It seemed like a good thing to keep going.

Sadly, Martha was not buying into it.

So on this Saturday in mid-August, we meet up, and not at Martha’s house this time, but at a park n ride on the west side of Denver.  I’ve brought along my boring dry bagel and some coffee, along with whatever I could scrounge up out of my fridge to qualify as lunch.  It’s tough these days – birding, reading, work, homework, birding, work, homework, reading, running a little, etc. – and for me the thing that gives is the grocery shopping.  And food preparation. 

Well, maybe the food preparation is always an issue, so let’s just not go there right now.

George and Martha and I have just determined that I’ll do the driving today when the latest addition to our carpool, Amy, pulls up.  She’s young and bright-eyed and has a longer commute than the rest of us, and still looks fresher than she has any right to do.  I kind of hate her.

Until she says, “I made scones!  Does anyone want one?”

Amy is my new best friend.

The scone (apples and cheddar cheese;  who knew what a grand combination that would be) fuels me as we start our field trip at Lair o’ the Bear Park in Jefferson County. Lair o’ the Bear is another Open Space park, something Jefferson County is known for;  the park is situated about four miles up the Bear Creek Canyon from Morrison. 

Alder, one of the trees we need to be able to identify

We’re barely out of the cars when, again, birds distract us.  How’s a person to concentrate on habitat (oh so many:  Montane Shrubland, Douglas-Fir Forest, Pondersa Pine Forest/Woodland, Riparian Deciduous Forest, and my old favorite FUCM) when the birds are buzzing all around?

Chokecherry, one of our required shrubs

There are Broad-tailed Hummingbirds and American Crows.  People are seeing Lesser Goldfinches, and I want a look, badly.  While not technically a “nemesis bird” for me, this is darn close.  In birding circles, a nemesis bird is one that you want to see but keep missing.  It’s always the bird-that-got-away.  Once, more than a year ago, I accidentally took a photo of a Lesser Goldfinch up in Boulder.  Ever since then, I’ve wanted to see one again, and they just elude me.  If you’ve been following along, you’ll remember that this was the Four Percent Bird – the one bird I missed on my AMB entrance exam.

So, you might say I’m motivated.  You might say that seeing this bird is becoming my mission.  You might say I’m getting a little obsessed.

When Cynthia – one of the mentors – hears me say that this bird is my nemesis bird, she makes it her mission, too, to get me a view.

She gets one in her scope and beckons me over.  Just as I get there, the bird flies. 

We walk on.  There’s another Lesser Goldfinch.  And it flies before I get a look in the scope.  And another.  And another.

Then George says, I think I see a MacGillivray’s Warbler!  I look in the direction he’s pointing, and I see a flash of a bird flying into the willows.  But that’s it.  It’s gone, not to be seen again, and I didn’t really get any kind of a look at it.

Oh for two.

Despite that great scone, I’m thinking this may not be such a great day.

Peach-leaved Willow

We’re being urged to concentrate on the habitat, so that’s where I turn my attention.  Even if I don’t recognize these trees and shrubs, at least they don’t fly away when I look at them.  Here’s a great example of a Plains Cottonwood next to a Narrow-leaved Cottonwood.  And lots of Willows.  And Alder.  And River Birch.  And Chokecherry and Snowberry and Wax Currant and Mountain Mahogany and many, many more species of plants than birds.

Mountain Mahogany

River Birch trunk

To be sure, there are birds;  they just aren’t as cooperative as the plants.

Let’s pause to talk about the challenges of photographing plants versus birds some.  When I tell my friend Benji that I think plants are more difficult, he says, “but the plants don’t move!”  I beg to differ. The plants move ever so slightly in the breeze.  Or they move a huge amount in only slightly more breeze.  And there are so many different aspects:  what do you focus on?  The leaves?  The pine needles?  The whole branch?  The trunk?  The fruit?  Ay-yi-yi-yi-yi.  Give me a bird any day.  At least even the most  flitty ones stop at some point, and you have just one thing to worry about.

But even then, the birds aren’t so cooperative today, so I stick mostly to the plants. 

River Birch catkins

Until……….towards the end of our hike here, Chuck says to me, “did you see the Lesser Goldfinch down by the water?  It might make a good picture.”  And so, I finally get my good look at my not-quite-nemesis.  The angle and the distance don’t make for great photos, but today, apparently, nothing makes for great photos.

Lesser Goldfinch, female

Lesser Goldfinch, male

Once we’ve made our lap around Lair o’ the Bear, we head to Red Rocks Park, but it’s mobbed.  We make a stop and catch a few more birds and a few more shrubs, but we’re soon on our way to our next destination, Genesee Mountain Park.

We get to Genesee just in the heat of the day.  Bright sun overhead, and it’s hot.  And the birds are – for the most part – very, very quiet.

Still, we make our rounds here.  Chuck assures us that we’ll see at least forty bluebirds before the day is out, but we’re off to a slow start.   We go off-trail, and walk and walk and walk, and the birds are just not cooperating.  We see just a few Western Bluebirds and some Pine Siskins and Western Wood-Pewees, and three Olive-sided Flycatchers.  A Few other standards for this park make appearances:  Dark-eyed Juncos and House Wrens and Mountain Chickadees and a few others.   The day isn’t a bust, but it’s definitely not a 5-star day, either.

Finally, we’re back in the parking lot where we started.  Amy and George and I end up watching birds – lots of them – in an open meadow, across the road from the rest of the group.  Bluebirds, and lots of them, moving on through.  I see a flash of red, and get Amy and George to focus on it too;  a House Finch – not an unusual bird here at all, but definitely a nice splash of color today.  Then suddenly it seems like birds are moving everywhere.  We report back to Chuck that his forty bluebirds are finally showing up, and then he has everyone focused on a couple of Cassin’s Finches, a nice addition to the day’s count.

Then Amy brings my attention back to a small bird in a tree behind us.

Amy asks “was that a Pygmy Nuthatch?”

It’s definitely a Pygmy Nuthatch, a bird I’ve seen frequently up in this park over the last year.  A cool bird, to be sure, but nothing new, or particularly special.  So I’m a little confused as to why Amy’s smile just got huge.  Then I remember that this is her first year of birding up in this country.  “That’s a new bird for me!” she says.

I couldn’t be happier.  Have I mentioned, Amy is my new best friend?  And this day has turned out just perfectly.