Driving Field Trip

My friend Paul and I led a group of 7 students and 2 parents in three cars to tour Eastern Boulder County and more on the morning of Saturday, April 5.  We specifically scoped out seven different nesting sites, saw a few more along the way, and observed at least a dozen Red-tailed Hawks, two Great-horned Owls, five (and maybe a few others) Bald Eagles, a bunch of kestrels and another 10 or so unidentified birds that were probably mostly Red-tails (with maybe a couple more Baldies flying far and high).  The highlight of the day was seeing the two Ospreys preening their platform nest on West St. Vrain Road, one of which took a few sorties around the area for us to observe.

We got on the road a little before 9:00 AM and headed east from Escuela Bilingüe Pioneer, then North on County Line Road to the Red-tail nest at Evans.  We set up the scopes and the kids were able to kick off the day with a bang and nice view of a Hawk mama’s head poking out of its nest.  We then went a little further and turned left/west on Kenosha up to the Great Blue Heron Rookery at the curve before it connects with Lookout Rd.  There were four or five herons on the top nests and another flew in and landed for us.  Across the road to the north is a Great-horned Owl nest with a proud mama sitting on it. Even though we were pretty far away looking at her through scopes, she still seemed aware of us, though not bothered, seemingly looking right back at us.  This was a first sighting of an owl for many of the kiddos.

Next it was back to County Line and north, a few Red-tails along the way, including a huge nest right above a farmhouse just south of Highway 52.  We went all the way to the washout and just west of there is another well-known Bald Eagle nest.  As we approached I am pretty sure we saw one of the adults flying away, while one was on the nest.  We were able to get scopes on the white head for everyone to see.

After a pit stop at a nearby shopping center, we went by the Boulder County Fairgrounds, and although it has been noted that both of the pair of Osprey have been back and working on the nest, neither was around for us, so we headed west out to the Hygiene Bald Eagle nest.  When we got there, we were met by two surprises, first that no one else was there watching, and we didn’t see anything on the nest. I hope that means that the eggs have hatched, not that something has happened to the eggs.  However, as I scanned the area I was able to spot four more eagles in the distance: a juvenile fairly close that we all got good looks at through both binocs and scope, then a pair of adults perched together on a great branch to the northeast whose white head were quite visible once we were able to get a scope on them, and lastly, another adult went flying by even farther away just below ridgeline (I think I was the only one to eye that one).

Next we head back to 59^th and south to St. Vrain Rd. and west only a few hundred yards to where a platform is built maybe 30 yards south of the road, giving a spectacular view of the two would be parents and their black eye stripe, especially with the scopes, as they were preening and preparing their nest.  It is not the greatest parking area along the side of the road, but no one yelled at us this time.  When one of the gorgeous birds gave its third flight overhead, we decided to move on and leave them in peace.

On the way home we went back to 75^th and into the parking lot of the office building a block before Nelson Road where there are two nests, one fairly close to 75^th, and the other maybe 120 yards east.  These two sites have been inhabited by a pair of Red-tails and a pair of Great-horned Owls for the last few years.  The GHOs are back on the eastern nest again and Paul has seen the Hawks on the western one recently, although only one soaring Red-tail was nearby today.

From there we headed home via 75^th (given more time we would have stopped in at Lagerman Reservoir to see what was lurking about), through Niwot to Lookout Road where saw one RT on the high power poles (couldn’t stop to scan for Burrowing Owls), and home to Lafayette on US 287 past the Red-tail nest at Jasper (still not sure if there is a GHO again in the huge nest across the highway and closer to the creek).

All in all a very successful day of raptoring, with many participants notching a couple of “lifers” with the Opsreys and Owls.

Happy Raptoring!