Birdathon 2012

 
THANK YOU All Who Supported Our Birdathon Teams in 2011!
Read the team reports below, and stay tuned for more 2012 details…

 

2011 Team Reports from the Field

 

Ricks Center Firebirds: May 26

Team Members: 40 Fourth & Fifth Grade Students from Ricks Center for Gifted Children. Mary Keithler, Andrew Mackie, Karl Brummert.
Species Count: 40
Locations: Lair ‘o the Bear Park (Jeffco Open Space)
Team Report: On Thursday, May 26, forty children from the Ricks Center for Gifted Children participated in the ASGD Birdathon. Their team name was the Ricks Center Firebirds. The Birdathon was held at the Lair o’ the Bear Park near Morrison, CO. They split into two groups to go bird-watching. They saw a lot of birds, from the lesser goldfinch to the mallard duck. The first bird that the first group saw was the American Robin. The first bird the second group saw was a house wren. The Ricks Center Firebirds raised almost two-thousand dollars for the Audubon Center of Greater Denver. The first group enjoyed seeing two herons, a Great Blue Heron, and a black crowned night heron. The Black Crowned Night Heron was quite a show. Karl, Mary, and Andrew the bird experts told the kids that the heron liked to sit very still and wait for the fish to come. Then it would jump in the water and eat the fish. The black crowned night heron was just sitting on a log. They watched it for about twenty minutes. They loved seeing that. Then they saw an American Dipper. Those birds are really amazing. They can walk under water and move the rocks with their beaks. They really liked that one too. The students didn’t get to see it walk underwater, but they did get to see it eat insects. They overall found forty birds on their Birdathon. They loved having this fun and educational experience.
By: Abba and Katie

 

Elm Street Birdathon Lite (41 residences): May 22

Team Members: Carl Norbeck
Species Count: 12
Locations: All birds seen at 1435 S. Elm St., Denver (including flyovers!)
Team Report: The list of species we saw: Black-capped Chickadees, Mourning Dove, American Robin, Blue Jay, Northern Flicker, House Finch, House Sparrow, Downy Woodpecker, White-breasted Nuthatch, Canada Goose, American-white Pelican, American Crow.
Next Year: Krisana Park Birdathon”not-so” Lite (175 residences).

 

Bird Dogs Learning New Tricks: May 23

Team Members: Suzy Hiskey, Mike Hiskey, Donna, Judy, Steve
Species Count: 23
Locations: Littleton, Highlands Ranch, Chatfield S.P., University of Denver, Indian Hills
Team Report: Surprising results abound from the Bird Dogs Learning New Tricks. Our team total was 23 species – double our goal! Team captain Suzy had a difficult time spotting birds. Starting off at a school in Highlands Ranch, she only spotted sparrows and a mourning dove. From there to the ASGD offic, the normal birds were nowhere to be found, with only 5 additional species added to her list, including Violet-green Swallows, and Magpies. Mike Hiskey had luck driving to and from DU seeing 6 species, including a red-tailed hawk, red-winged blackbirds, barn swallows, and white pelicans. Donna had success by spotting 8 species around her neighborhood in Littleton, including house finches, American crow, pine siskins, and an owl by sound. Most successful were Judy and Steve, watching from their mountain home in Indian Hills, identifying 11 species, including great blue heron, Stellar’s jay, and both mountain and western bluebirds. Combining our lists, we came up with the following species: American Crow, American Robin, American White Pelican, Barn Swallow, Canada Geese, Common Grackle, Common Raven, European Starling, Great Blue Heron, Great-horned Owl, House Finch, House Sparrow, Black-billed Magpie, Mallard, Mountain Bluebird, Mourning Dove, Pine Siskin, Red-tailed Hawk, Red-winged Blackbird, Rock Pigeon, Stellar’s Jay, Violet-green Swallow, and Western Bluebird.

 

3 Vets in Search of a Bird: May 13-14

Team Members:   Mackenzie Goldthwait, Doug Kibbe, Jeff Dawson
Species Count:  160
Locations: NE Colorado, Pawnee Buttes, Greeley, Big Thompson Canyon
Team Report: With no time to conduct any route reconnaissance prior to starting this misadventure, on Friday the 13th, we started the drive to NE Colorado where we intended to camp. A brief stop in Fort Morgan for dinner doubled as a check on the status of the Mississippi Kite and White-winged Dove; neither appeared. After camping the first night, we discovered that Jeff’s tea had spilled in the contents of the cooler. Tea sodden sandwiches and burritos are one thing, starting the morning without caffeine, not good. Fortunately he had a backup bottle of Starbucks coffee. Disaster averted. The pleasant weather of the previous afternoon vanished, the sky cloudy and temperatures markedly cooler than when we crawled in our sleeping bags. But at least there was no wind…yet. It would be downhill from here. There were few birds along our first stops but just enough to keep us hopeful. An Eastern Phoebe, Broad-winged Hawk, Red-headed Woodpecker and Red-bellied Woodpecker make the trip east worth the drive. Taking  the wrong road to Jumbo Reservoir – obviously sleep deprived and caffeine catatonic – we continued to plod forward scoring Black Terns and Common Loons before turning to our real target species:  Bell’s Vireo. By the time we were finished in Logan County we had seen 10 species that we had not previously seen on Birdathons. Smiles were in order, made wider by the stop at Dairy Queen in Sterling. We were already an hour behind schedule and missed the Mississippi kite that nests there for the third year running. The Crow Valley Campground, while not exactly hopping with birds, did produce a few additional species that had not fled the encamped boy scout troop, which was on an apparent “snipe hunt” through this oasis of woodland. After stopping in Greeley, heading directly toward the Rockies in a desperate attempt to beat the weather and darkness, we were bested by both. Drizzle turned to raindrops.  Damp and dejected we called it a day when we were unable to dredge up a dipper along the Big Thompson River even though every boulder in the stream was dotted with dipper droppings. What a way to end the day! Our appreciation of those who supported us in the endeavor is immense.  But looking ahead to 2012, we’ll need a faster car; heck, we’ll settle for a loaner…
For the longer version of this Birdathon report, visit the ASGD Facebook Page!

 

Great Railed Tackles: Saturday, May 14

Team Members: Karen Bickett, Sandy Selzer, Kara Spitler, Robert Martinez, Cheryl Chessick, Sharon Pfeifer, Kathy Bollhoeffer, Harriet Stratton
Species Count: 110
Locations: Bear Creek Lake Park, Red Rocks, Cherry Creek State Park, Walden Ponds
Team Report: Saturday, 6am: Team Tackles joined Mike Henwood and his Spring Count crew at Bear Creek Lake Park. Hundreds of swallows flying low over the lake cast their spell under the morning fog. We quit around 4 pm in the pouring rain with a Sandhill Crane at Cherry Creek Res. Even though the weather conditions were challenging – the flock of Lazuli Buntings at Red Rocks, the endless Western Tanagers setting budding trees on fire, the Cooper’s carrying a plucked body to her nest – made it a great day of birding.


The Lark Somethings: Sunday, May 15

Team Members:   Angela Grun, Carol DeStefanis, Karl Brummert
Unofficial Team Members:   Kate Frost & Todd Arcos
Species Count:  82 (plus one unidentifiable flycatcher)
Locations: Cherry Creek State Park, Grant-Frontier Park, South Platte Park, Audubon Center at Chatfield, Lair o’ the Bear, and Red Rocks
Team Report: Despite the cold, cloudy weather, The Lark Somethings had a very successful day in the field. We did quite well for a group of not-the-best birders (yes, we did get some help from Audubon Master Birder Kate Frost and her friend Todd from North Carolina). This Denver team covered much ground in the metro area in twelve hours. Fifty-nine of our species were seen at Cherry Creek, and we capped the day with nesting peregrine falcons at Red Rocks. Another highlight was the heated seats in the car to warm us up between stops. Note for next year: bring a spotting scope!  By May 2012, we will be ready to compete against the hardcore birders…..maybe.

 

Kingery Kingbirds: Sunday, May 15

Team Members: Hugh & Urling Kingery, Nicole Buyck, Jessi Overbeck
Species Count: 116 species, 2,848 individual birds
Locations: Rocky Mountain Arsenal Wildlife Refuge, Kingery Backyard
Team Report: At the Rocky Mountain Arsenal Wildlife Refuge we had a comparatively average count – 104 species – not nearly as high as the last couple of years. Highlights included:

•  Nesting Eastern Bluebirds – Nicole Buyck & Jessi Overbeck saw a female Eastern Bluebird carrying food to a nest in a dead cottonwood. The Arsenal has a couple of old records – 10 years ago – though I haven’t heard of any recently.

•  Fairly big sparrow flocks – the weather kept many birds down.

•  Two flocks of phalaropes on Lower Derby Lake – 32 Wilson’s in one, 25 Red-necked (an infrequent migrant) in another.

•  Swallows over every body of water. We conservatively estimated 1000 all told.

We also counted at home the evening before, during a very wet snowfall. The most amazing: a male Rose-breasted Grosbeak with a big splash of rose on its chest, and then a female Rose-breast – very white with a pale pink bill. (We had seen a different male earlier in the week, a very pale bird with just a hint of rose on the breast.)

 
 

Start Getting Your Team Ready for Birdathon 2012!

 

What is Birdathon?

Birdathon is an important annual fundraising event that involves all ASGD supporters in one of America’s most popular hobbies: bird watching! And the great part is you don’t have to be an expert birder to participate.

 
All contributions to the Birdathon are tax deductible and support the Audubon Society of Greater Denver. Donations can be based on the number of species seen, or they can be a flat amount.

 

Guidelines