Field Trip Report

Sunday March 25, 2001
Birding for Beginners

Field trip leader Bill Miller was joined by two other hardy souls, Lisa Wolfe and her 5th-grade son, Sean Miller, on a morning field trip to Cottonwood Hollow Natural Area and CSU's Environmental Learning Center (ELC) on Sunday morning, March 25th, from 9:00 to 11:00. Lisa and Sean are members of FCAS, and receive the Ptarmigan. They do access the FCAS web site, and are now going to be participants in the upcoming Birdathon. They have now also made a pledge to that cause.

At the beginning of the trip the weather was dreary, slightly above freezing, with a chill, easterly wind that had a hint of moisture in it. We saw the usual compliment of Northern Flickers, Canada Geese, and male Red-winged Blackbirds from along the road/trail that goes south from the ELC parking lot on East Prospect Street. The Red-wings have already staked out territories and were displaying. The pleasant surprise was a pair of male Yellow-headed Blackbirds (my first for the season,) about two feet apart in the same tree, along the ditch, about half-way between the parking lot and the access path to Cottonwood Hollow.

The water level is up in all the ponds. The pond in Cottonwood Hollow had a few Mallards (less than were there yesterday during a morning scouting trip.)

While still at Cottonwood Hollow we saw two male Common Mergansers lift off from the pond to the south of Cottonwood Hollow, and fly to the northwest, over the Poudre River. By the time we walked to the south pond there was only one male Common Merganser remaining (there were three males and two females on Saturday.) Today, however, there was a pair of Gadwalls (male/female) on that pond. The white wing speculum was very prominent on both birds. There were also two pair of Mallards, also.

We continued south, and crossed the channel that a considerable portion of the Poudre River is now flowing through, as a result of the 1997 flood event. We crossed this channel immediately downstream from the constructed overflow breakout that is located upstream from the ELC footbridge on the east bank of the main stem. This breakout structure is in bad need of repair, as it is diverting some of the waters that should remain in the main Poudre River channel at that point. The gravel pit that parallels the path on the east side of the ELC property was pretty much filed in with sediment as a result of the flood.

While wandering through the eastern ELC properties that are normally accessed via the footbridge we encounter the expected culprits (numerous Flickers, Robins, Blue Jays, Magpies, Black-capped Chickadees, European Starlings) as well as one or two Downy Woodpeckers. We startled several Mallards out of the channel east of the breakout structure, as well as a Great Blue Heron. It is hard to say how many Great Blue Herons we actually saw, as we had no less than four sightings of them flying over the area, in different directions.

On our way back to the parking lot we encountered one male House Finch. All during our walk we heard Western Meadowlarks calling, and finally sighted two, calling their heads off from high in a cottonwood tree. We also saw four head of White-tailed Deer that we startled, just north of the site of the old Osprey Release hack tower.

All told, not a highly productive field trip, but it was obvious that spring is making inroads on the landscape. Vegetation has not yet started greening up in noticeable fashion, yet.

Sean is quite knowledgeable about nature and wildlife. I would go birding with him again!

List of Species Observed: