Beginning The Year in Colorado

January 5 - 10 found me in Colorado Springs for the National Conferences on Youth Ministries. The conference lasted from Monday through Thursday. Kristen and I decided to take Friday as a day to do some birding and sightseeing around Colorado Springs. We started that morning at the Fountain Creek Nature Center in the southern part of Colorado Springs. It was COLD! A cold front had moved through and snow was quickly following it. They have a really nice visitor center with bird feeders right outside the window. There were Red-winged Blackbirds all over them. But, there were several American Goldfinches, Pine Siskins and Dark-eyed Juncos (both Slate-colored and Pink-sided) at the feeders. Kristen and I decided to brave the cold and walk one of the trails. Just as we started, I saw my lifer Black-capped Chickadee. I know I've been in places where Black-capped Chickadees occur, but for some reason I have never laid my eyes on one until this trip. That was pretty cool. There were also a couple of White-breasted Nuthatches on the trees. I haven't really seen those guys in quite a few years. There wasn't much on the trails. The winds had really picked up and the temperatures were dropping. We came to a little bridge over a small stream and an American Dipper flew out from under the bridge to some cattails. It's been since 1996 since I've seen a dipper. We came to a larger pond that had quite a bit of the water open (most of the ponds were frozen). There were some Hooded Mergansers on the water, but then I saw two larger Common Mergansers a little further out. Those were new for me as well. I also saw the southwestern subspecies of the Song Sparrow that I had never seen before. It just got too cold to stay out anymore, so we decided to get in the car and drive to Focus on the Family where we could do some sightseeing indoors! There were several Black-billed Magpies in the parking lot. This guy stayed still long enough for me to get a shot of him.


We left Focus on the Family and drove to visit the home of a gracious lady who offered for us to go birding at her home. Her home is enough to make anyone envious. It's nestled in the foothills of the Rockies surrounded by tall pine trees. My target birds were Pygmy Nuthatches. Unfortunately, the Pygmy Nuthatches didn't cooperate, so I missed them. But, I did get to add Mountain Chickadees to my list. I haven't seen them since 1997, so that was a treat to see them.

Overall, my birding in Colorado Springs was good. I added two life birds and saw several birds I haven't seen in over a decade. I need to get out west to go birding more often! But, I saw 29 species:

Canada Goose, Mallard, Green-winged Teal, Hooded Merganser, Common Merganser, Pied-billed Grebe, Great Blue Heron, American Coot, Rock Pigeon, Eurasian Collared Dove, Downy Woodpecker, Northern Flicker (red-shafted), Black-billed Magpie, Common Raven, Black-capped Chickadee, Mountain Chickadee, White-breasted Nuthatch, American Dipper, American Robin, Song Sparrow, White-crowned Sparrow, Dark-eyed Junco, Red-winged Blackbird, House Finch, Pine Siskin, American Goldfinch, Lesser Goldfinch, House Sparrow

We go back to Colorado Springs in two years. I told Kristen I'm going to take the entire day to go birding at lots of different places. Even though I enjoyed the snow, I hope it isn't in two years so I can get up in the mountains and go birding some.