Estes Park 1/28

I wanted to try my new lens out on some larger targets today, so I convinced my family to get up early and take a ride to Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park. I was also hoping to see several interesting species I still need to see for the year like Rosy-Finches, Evening Grosbeak, Pine Grosbeak, Clark's Nutcracker, and Gray Jay. Just before we got to the Estes Valley the wind picked up and it was very windy the entire time we were up there, which does not make for good birding, but still alright for photography. We ended up seeing several herds of Elk in Rocky Mountain National Park and I got several good pictures, but I haven't had time to edit most of the pictures I took, so if you are interested I should have them up on my website in the next couple of days. Unfortunately, while in RMNP we only saw a few birds with 1 American Robin and 1 Black-billed Magpie. One of my favorite pictures of Elk that I took is below.

                                                          Elk

After we left the park we decided to drive around the YMCA of the Rockies. Just before getting to the entrance my dad spots a Coyote eating something, so we turn around and I was able to get a great photo. Here in the YMCA we found a few more birds than RMNP, but not by much. They include American Crows, Common Ravens, Black-billed Magpies, and Pygmy Nuthatches.

                                                           Coyote

After that we drove Fish Creek Road and the surrounding area looking for any birds of interest and we were able to find one good flock. This included Pygmy Nuthatches, Mountain Chickadees, Black-capped Chickadees, Clark's Nutcrackers (118), Steller's Jays, Townsend's Solitaire, Dark-eyed Juncos, American Robins, and a few American Crows.

                                                    Black-capped Chickadee

As we were headed home I convinced everyone that we should stop at some feeders at Drake. At and around the feeders we had Steller's Jays, Hairy Woodpecker, Downy Woodpecker, Dark-eyed Juncos, American Robins, and House Finches. As were headed over the bridge to leave the feeder area we found an American Dipper going through the water and walking on the ice.

                                                   American Dipper

When we got home I noticed the Western Scrub-Jays were around and same as the Black-billed Magpies.

                                                     Western Scrub-Jay

Now the last little bit of birding I got to do during the day was on my drive to work. As I got to the marsh (that I have mentioned several times before) on Highway 402 just west of Wilson Avenue I saw a Cooper's Hawk (119) fly over making it the sixth raptor species I have seen at this location so far this month.