Fossil Creek Birding
In my continuing quest to explore more of our local open spaces and natural areas in Northern Colorado, we spent an evening checking out Fossil Creek Reservoir. This is a large lake about 10 minutes south of our house, and a known nesting area for Bald Eagles in the winter. We went down hoping to see some of the big birds and to test out G’s new Julbo Sunglasses.
Mark and G check out the signage
On our way into the area, we were stopped by a car parked cross-ways across the street, and could see people inside excitedly pointing to birds flying above the nearby fields. Were these bald eagles? I looked with my long camera lens, and while they seemed to be raptors of some sort, I didn’t recognize them.
After a minute or two, the car in front of us noticed they were blocking the road and headed towards the parking lot. But one of these mystery birds swooped in front of them, and they slammed on their brakes and nearly drove off the road in excitement.
Turns out, birding in Colorado can be more hazerdous than you’d expect.
Excited Colorado Birders - might not be aware of their surroundings!
When we met up with the excited birders later, we found out the soaring raptors were Harriers (not jets), and watching them hunt was quite a thrilling sight.
Throughout the afternoon, several groups of people set up spotting scopes along the edge of the lake. Mark and I were able to check out three Bald Eagles, an adult and two adolescents (all brown still) in a distant tree. My lens does not do them justice!
Bald Eagle takes flight
The trails surrounding this lake are all wide and well graveled, making it a fine place to push around a jogging stroller instead of carrying G in the backpack. He wasn’t thrilled with the new sunglasses, but we eventually got him to wear them a bit. Something to keep working on.
G in his Julbo's
The longer trail was closed for Eagle Nesting season, so we walked a shorter, 1.5 mile trail to a western view of the lake. It was a nice, sunny afternoon, and felt good to just be outside for a few hours.
Mark and G walking the trails at Fossil Creek Reservoir
Do you have any favorite local outdoor spots? Or have you had a recent run-in with exciting wildlife? I’d love to hear the stories, leave a comment!
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- Mark and Gabe check out the signage
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- Trail closed to protect Bald Eagles
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- Excited Colorado Birders - might not be aware of their surroundings!
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- Mark and Gabe at the reservoir
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- Mountains, suburban sprawl, and the reservoir
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- Mark and Gabe walking the trails at Fossil Creek Reservoir
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- Melting snow on the prairie
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- Sun and Mountains
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- Gabe in his Julbo's
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- Bald Eagle takes flight
The setting wasn’t too romantic, but Ann and I recently got a good show in the whole foods parking lot as a crow repeatedly dive-bombed a red tailed hawk sitting on a streetlight. It looked like he made contact on one shot, and the hawk took to the air, but the crow continued harassing it. The hawk must have scored some tasty morsel, but we couldn’t see it. The show ended when a panhandler hit us up for change…
Ha, Awesome Dylan! And I bet you and Ann were the only people standing in the parking lot watching the show. :) I wonder if that crow was really hungry or just overly confidant in himself to go up against such fierce competition?
Correct – we were the only ones watching. Like the time I watched a golden eagle soar low over a busy Walmart parking lot and no one else looked up.
I’ve definitely seen crows harrying larger birds, even eagles, but the repeated dive-bomb technique was new to me.
When I initially commented I clicked the “Notify me when new comments are added” checkbox and now each time a comment is added I get several e-mails with the same comment.
Is there any way you can remove people from that service?
Thanks a lot!
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