Flickers and the Cooper

Gregor and I were walking through one of our local parks; Stratton Open Space, a few days ago.  Stratton is just about a mile from the house and we both walk there frequently.  It's my favorite of the three big parks close by.  The trails are decently well maintained, flowy and steep.  The design keeps the mountain bikers in a predictable part of the place and that let's the cross riders really open up without having to worry about getting plastered by a fifty pound bike.  The other two parks are Bear Creek, with a nature center and Red Rocks Canyon Open Space.  Both of those parks are considerably more crowded with people though still filled with avian life.  Red Rocks is a climbing and cross country mecca.  The top section includes the Intenmann Trail which is more of an all mountain trail.  Bear Creek is packed with walkers and bird watchers.  Sometimes so packed as to cause the birds to fly away and/or combat photography.  Both of which are situations that I try to avoid.  Stratton is an old growth conifer forest with just a smidgeon of grassland, which creates a nice edge for birds.  There's also a small reservoir that is a magnet for migrating water birds and a few winter residents, parts of the reservoir never ice over because the inlet is always on, doing stuff.

Purple Finch with Downtown Colorado Springs in the background

       There are several small creeks that flow through the park, all at the bottoms of deep, dry beds.  at any time of the year you can also find drainage pathways just about everywhere.  All of this water adds up to two more reasons that Stratton is such a great place to find birds, available drinking water and an increase in humidity.  The humidity helps the bugs out and attracts blackbirds.  We were looking for any late season ovenbirds, a funny little warbler that spends most of its time on the ground.  We pushed through the dense undergrowth, grasses and vines intermixed with berry covered shrubs and brilliantly coloured flowers.  This park had none of last years dead growth, everything was green and and dark brown, rich and fertile.  Gregor likes birding, he likes to learn about them and he likes to watch them.  He's a good watcher too because of his interest and his ability to stop and sit down.  By the time we did this trip he was starting to recognise a few of the calls, at least by family type.  Chippy sparrows, sing-songy thrushes, buzzy chickadees and such.  I'm a fan of woodpeckers, they're so bizarre and brightly coloured.  I just can't help myself, one of my all time favorites are the large red-shafted Northern Flickers.  We get them in droves but they are shy, always managing to stay one frame outside of my lens.  I have several yellow-shafted but they aren't nearly as bright or bold as the reds.  We heard a few calling from a tall ponderosa on the opposite side of a clearing that we were approaching.  There were four total, and I frantically tried to talk to Gregor about them and operate my camera at the same time.  They moved quickly; deeper into the forest.  In desperation I began psh calling them.  Anything to bring them back into the perfectly lit clearing.  Fortunately, Gregor assumed I had some idea of what I was doing and just watched and listened to my cries.  They stopped, and started moving back.  I got my picture! Alas, the file is corrupted; but I got a picture and got to watch them for a little longer.  As they flitted around the big ponderosa Gregor began muttering in broken dude speech.  I was half listening, intent on getting a great shot of the birds.  Then they bolted.  Jarring alarm cry and off they shot like arrows to the far corners of the compass.  What a turn of bad luck! Only one picture! I lowered my camera quickly to look at Gregor and share my disappointment when over the top of my head I caught a glimpse of a white, lightly speckled underbelly, hooked bill, wild golden eyes.  The hawk, a Cooper's, flew into the Ponderosa.  I was so excited I barely remembered to raise my camera back up.  He posed for us for a few minutes, looking around for the cause of the psh psh psh alarm call I had been using.  Beautiful is an insulting way to describe the bird.

Cooper's hawk

I think I may be raptor-mad now.  Since this sighting I've seen a Merlin flying over my urban guide route, a Peregrine in my backyard and a Red-tail on a lamp post on my way to work.  There are worse things to obsess over.