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Tuesday, May 05, 2009

North Park Highlights

I trekked up to North Park a couple of weekends ago with my dad. Despite lots of wind, rain, and even a bit of snow, we had gobs of cool birds. If you've never been you should go! Here are a few of my pictorial favs.

Sage Thrasher:
Tree Swallow (one of the few out of 100+ that was sharp enough to keep...)
Western Grebe:
Greater Sage-Grouse: Got better display pics last year in sunny weather, but kind of neat to see 18 males and 4 females despite the lateness of the season and wetness of the day...
Cassin's Finch:

Pine Grosbeak:


Brown-capped Rosy-Finch: At least 100 at the Moose Visitor Center.
Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch: One lurking among the Brown-capped Rosies.
Black Rosy-Finch: Two in the flock made for a most pleasant surprise! One had a little albinistic patch on its crown. These always get me excited- one of my to 10 favorite birds!

7 comments:

Kyle said...

You got some great shots, Bill! I especially like the Tree Swallow (I've never gotten a keeper of one of those little aerial acrobats -- they're just too fast for me!) and the grebe.

Jen "Display homes" Ambers said...

Awesome!
You've done a great job!
I really enjoyed watching your photos!
Thank you for sharing!

Unknown said...

Great trip and some really fine images!

Sharingan616 said...

Nice site!

http://oregonbackyardbirds.blogspot.com/

Dawn Fine said...

OMG...so many amazing birds I have never seen! Are those finches there year round in Colorado?
wonderful photos!

brdpics said...

Hi dAwN- Brown-capped Rosy-Finches are in the state all year, but the Black and Gray-crowned Rosies pull out to their breeding grounds farther west and north.

Brown-capped Rosies move up to the alpine tundra, nesting in cliffy areas. There are a few reliable places to find them in the summer but many involve hikes. One place you can drive to is Summit Lake on Mt. Evans.

lalapapawawa said...

The pictures of the grouse -- too cool. I've never seen them before.