When I first saw American Dippers in Woody Creek I was told that they are skittish birds, and that I'd be lucky to get a good shot of them. My experience has been the complete opposite, though, and on one occasion I could have reached out and grabbed one of the birds, had I been hungry or a jerk or something. Here are some shots from today:
I haven't been birding much at all here in Aspen. A bunch of factors contribute to this: no time, no car, not many species, and no idea where to go. I feel a little bit bad that I'm not our trudging through the brush everyday, but I'm planning to do a lot of spring birding in the southwest on my drive back to Maine, and I'm sure I'll make up for all the birds I'm not seeing here.
The only new bird I've seen in 2007 is the Pine Grosbeak...a lovely large finch that has flocked to the trees at the top of Buttermilk (where I work most days) a couple of times. It's a nice looking bird, one that reminds me a lot of a large red crossbill...without the crossed bill part of course.
I have been in conversation with Auden Schendler, the head of the environmental department for the Aspen SkiCo, about the possibility of putting a finch feeder on the top of Buttermilk to encourage the presence of Rosy-Finches. Mr. Schendler had been very helpful and has offered to pay for the cost of a feeder and its instillation. Unfortunately, the season is almost over, and I am not planning to stay in Aspen for the summer. If I can get a feeder installed in April or May it will have to be up to someone else to keep it stocked next season.
On another Rosy-Finch note, local birder Al Levantin has invited me to his house, which is probably the best spot in the world to see Brown Capped Rosy-Finches, as well as the other two species. Many birders know Mr. Levantin from the book The Big Year, in which his quest to see a record number of species in North America was chronicled. I credit The Big Year with inspiring me to become a birder, and I am very grateful to Mr. Levantin for having me to his home.
If any of you are birdDC readers and have followed a link to here, you have earned my gratitude. Thanks for reading all this stuff I've written, and welcome to the place where I'll write some more.
Anyway, as I was saying back on BirdDC, I recently participated in the Aspen Christmas Bird Count. My partner was longtime Aspen birder Ken Toy, and he and I managed an impressive (for Colorado in December) 22 species. Here is the list:
Canada Goose - 55 (At the Aspen Center for Environmental Studies - ACES)
Mallard - 130 (ACES and the wastewater plant)
American Widgeon - 1 (ACES)
Ring-Necked Duck - 1 (ACES)
Barnyard Goose - 4 (Not counted officially, but found at the wastewater plant)
Bald Eagle - 1 (Woody Creek)
Golden Eagle - 1 (Woody Creek)
American Coot - 1 (ACES)
Northern Red-Shafted Flicker - 3 (Town of Aspen. Ken was very surprised at this high number. He wasn't sure we'd find this bird at all.)
Steller's Jay - 5 (Aspen)
Scrub Jay - 2 (Cemetary Lane wastewater plant overlook)
Black-Billed Magpie - 30 (everywhere)
Common Raven - 25 (also everywhere)
Black-Capped Chickadee - 16 (Aspen)
Mountain Chickadee - 2 (Aspen)
American Dipper - 1 (Woody Creek)
Townsend's Solitaire - 1 (Cemetary Lane wastewater plant overlook)
American Robin - 65 (Cemetary Lane wastewater plant overlook. An incredibly high count. Ken said we would be lucky to find one or two robins, but at the Cemetary Lane spot they were dripping off trees. From afar they looked like pine cones.)
Oregon Dark-Eyed Junco - 5 (Aspen)
Red-Crossbill - 19 (Sundeck, Ajax Mtn)
American Goldfinch - 5 (A real find up here, apparently)
House Sparrow - 10 (Aspen)
European Starling - 15 (Aspen)
NOTES:
-I've never looked to hard for Rock Doves and not seen them.
-I was disappointed that after two trips up the Aspen gondola I was unable to find Gray Jays or Siskins. If you are visiting Aspen, I can assure you that you stand a very good chance of seeing these species from the Sundeck.
-Ken was surprised that we were unable to find the Belted Kingfisher that lives near Woody Creek.
-Near the Wood Creek Tavern we heard soft hooting sounds that I believe were from Northern Pygmy-Owls, a common-enough bird 'round here. Evidence was inconclusive, though.