Yampa River Trail

Osprey and Chicks

This morning we explored the Botanic Garden and the Yampa River Core Trail. As we started on the path in the garden, we saw two people with a spotting scope. Ah! Birders! They were nice people and talked with us for an hour about the best places to go birding. An Osprey platform had birds nesting this summer for the first time since it was put up three years ago, so the birders were excited about it.

 The Mom tried to call the Dad, but he didn't come up while we were there. Found him downstream a little later though.

The Park is free and open to the public, to enjoy the flowers and the trees, a place to revel in Nature and a hideaway from the stress of modern life. It is a place for summer music festivals, a place for weddings and yoga and a resource to see native plants. The Yampa River starts at 12,000 feet in the Flattop mountains, 50 miles to the south, and empties into the Green River at 4,000 feet, 120 miles to the West, and eventually into the mighty Colorado. The Park sits at 6800 feet above sea level, but, through the use of microclimates designed into the Park, it supports both alpine plants and desert plants found in the Yampa River Basin.

The Service Berry finished bearing fruit weeks and weeks ago in Kentucky, but we found many bushes with not quite ripe berried. The Cedar Waxwings are taking care of all the ripe berries.

Red-naped Sapsucker 

A Red-naped Sapsucker preened and checked all the willow trees for juicy bugs.

Lots of tubers enjoyed the river today. So many it would have spoiled nature's serenity for me. We can't decide if we want to tube on our own, or take a float trip with a guide on the Colorado River. The indecision must be an age thing. Plus, I could take my camera on the float trip, but not in the tubes. The core trail is advertised for walkers and bikers, but the bikers go so fast, they tend to take over. Some, but not all, are polite enough to say something as they pass you.

Sweet Pea Restaurant

By the time we reached downtown, I was ready to have lunch. We checked out the riverfront restaurants and enjoyed our lunch under the shade of a humongous willow tree! The city sponsors a free transit system, so we took the bus back up to our car at the garden, then returned to the condo for a much needed nap.

Twice a week, the gondola stays open in the evening for sunset on the mountaintop. A very enjoyable ride and fantastic views of the valley and wildflowers.

Mosquito Bloodbank Donations

Steamboat Springs, CO, is in the broad valley of the Yampa River, one of the few wild rivers left in the state. It took us over four hours to drive here from the Denver airport, with backed up traffic, a rain shower, and of course, the mountains themselves. We drove through the Eisenhower Tunnel, which is 1.693 miles long and at an altitude of 11,013 feet, much higher than Denver or Steamboat Springs.

We first visited the Carpenter Ranch, owned by the Nature Conservancy. Restored from one of the original buildings at this site, a visitor/education center provides both cultural and ecological information about the Valley. The historic barn and house are registered with the Colorado Historical Society. In fact, the director said they currently have four interns from Fern Creek High School in Louisville on the site. The Conservancy's Yampa River Preserve is located just upstream, and we finally found it, but did not find many trails to hike. Barn Swallows are  everywhere!

Any time you see a flash of white in the sky, it will be a Magpie which is about the size of a crow. Of course, there are plenty of crows too, but we haven't seen any ravens yet. Thought we found a Peregrine Falcon along the drive, but it flew off making non-falcon sounds. It may have been a Swainson's Hawk.

 There were lots of Red Tails and even more Kestrels in the grassy flood plains. One hawk got too close, apparently, and the Kestrel dive bombed him and chased him away. Two Sandhill Cranes made enough noise for twenty. The grass and willows are so thick, we never did see the river itself, but we made a generous donation to the Mosquito Blood Bank! Bug spray has no effect on them.

At the ranch house, we were amazed by the number of pine cones on the trees in the front yard where we ate the lunch we packed. Pine Siskins buzzed in the high branches.

The Yampa River Preserve gave us a quick view of the river, but we couldn't walk close to the river, again because of the trees, bushes and grass that surround it. Tomorrow, we'll walk on part of the paved trail along the river right here in town, and I hope to get some good photos of it. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy some of the wildflower we saw.

Broad Run Park

21st Century Parks is developing the area around Floyd's Fork as it winds through Jefferson County. They are a donor funded group, with many wealthy corporations and individuals supporting them, so they have been able to do a great job without the limitations of county government. We enjoy going to their two original parks, Beckley Creek and Pope Lick, to walk, go birding and look for wildflowers.

Now they have opened two more parks downstream, and we finally managed to find time this morning to check them out. Broad Run Park is just off Bardstown Road, and still in Jefferson County, although it feels like you are driving clear into central Kentucky. They have a very nice splash park and playground near the entrance, and the road winds up and down hills, by-passing some property which is still privately owned. Since it just opened in the last month or so, we found nice signs pointing to trails that don't seem to exist yet. The Limestone Gorge exists, but we couldn't find the trail down into it. Well, it's still a work in progress. The Louisville Loop is a paved trail extending through the entire park system, and very pleasant to walk on. Just watch for speeding cyclists as they come down the hills!

The park people have done a terrific job planting native wildflowers along the Loop, and we enjoyed them immensely. It's a challenge to identify them when I get home though!

The next park north of Broad Run is Turkey Run Park, named for a tributary of Floyd's Fork. At the top of the hill is a big yellow silo, approximately 6 stories tall! I declined the climb, but Dick made it with little trouble for a bird's eye view. They have a big barn that looks like it's available for events and some nice picnic areas. Again, the "trails" aren't always completed.

We heard many different kinds of birds this morning, starting with a Yellow Billed Cuckoo, but were unable to find many of them. Several Gold Finches flew by, and one Indigo Bunting perched nearby to serenade us as we climbed back up the hill to our car.

Several Barn Swallows flew around the information kiosk, so I knew there should be a nest around somewhere, and sure enough, there it was just under the roof. Looks like these guys are just about ready to fledge!

Friday Morning Steps and Birding

Red Headed Woodpecker

Beckley Creek is the Century 21 park closest to my house, and since I was out that way this morning, I decided to get my 10,000 steps for the day started and do a little birding at the same time. I can reliably find Red Headed Woodpeckers here along the banks of Floyds Fork.

Red Winged Blackbird

And I usually under-count the numbers of Red Winged Blackbirds if I send in a list to eBird because there are so many of them in the meadows.

Indigo Bunting

I've learned to look carefully to tell the difference between the Indigo Bunting and the Blue Grosbeak, although I didn't find any Grosbeaks this morning. Meadowlarks and Common Yellowthroats called from the grass, but wouldn't come up to see me when I played their calls on my bird app.

Song Sparrow

I can always count on the Song Sparrows to entertain as I walk around. A Northern Bob White called from a tree, instead of the grass, then flew over my head to the next field to defend his territory.

Common Milkweed

Butterfly Weed

 The various milkweeds are beginning to bloom, but I only saw the little white and yellow butterflies.

Cliff Swallow

Other walkers greeted me, asking what I'd found, or sharing what they had seen. One couple was amazed by all the swallows under a bridge, so I headed in that direction. I'm pretty good at recognizing Barn Swallows and Tree Swallows, but these looked like Cliff Swallows, which I had only seen before out west.

A colony of Cliff Swallows have built their jug shaped nests of mud under a bridge over Floyd's Fork. They are protected and yet have easy access to bugs around the river.

Some of the babies are leaving the nest and learning to fly, or preening after getting a bug from the surface of the water. What a great way to spend the morning! And I got my 10,000 steps in with no trouble!

Birding Between Thunderstorms

Cedar Waxwing

A new group named Botanica is working to create a botanical garden in Louisville, on the former site of an automobile impound lot. The cars are gone, and the poison hemlock covers the field. They asked Beckham Bird Club to do a bird census today, so several club members met this morning, tromping through the mud and puddles from last night's thunderstorm. Rob is one of my favorite birding leaders because he knows the song and call of every bird in the field guide. It's always a good chance for me to brush up on my bird songs. We must have found about 30 Cedar Waxwings throughout the morning.

Yellow Warbler

Indigo Bunting

Yellow Warblers and Indigo Buntings were present in good numbers too, calling from the brush and trees every few yards it seemed.

Least Flycatcher

Baltimore Oriole

 We had to work a little harder to finally see this Flycatcher and the Oriole. All morning we were surprised by the lack of other expected warblers. Chickadees, Nuthatches and Tufted Titmice, normally abundant birds at any time, must have been feeding somewhere else today.

Veery

 

I've been hearing the eerie echoing call of the Veery several days this week in my backyard, but have been unable to find it. The only other time I've ever heard one was at Magee Marsh in Ohio a couple years ago. They are members of the Thrush family, and resemble young Robins, but the song is distinctive. They migrate through Kentucky on the way to breeding territory in southern Canada, and I've never seen one locally. Today, I went out with my phone app, trying to call one in so I could prove it was actually here. After I gave up and came back inside, the darn little thing sat on the fence and sang for me. The photos are a little fuzzy, since I had to take them through a slightly dirty window. If I kept a yard list, this would definitely be a new addition!

PS - some birding friends say this is really a Gray-cheeked Thrush, which is a life bird for us!

Birds and Pollywogs at Bernheim

It's Derby Day in Louisville, and the city celebrates the horse race for two weeks before it actually happens. I used to go to the track when trust department customers from the bank where I worked invited me, but haven't been for years and don't miss it a bit. It's something that's fun to do - once or twice. Does that mean I'm getting old?

Today we went to Pollywogs at Bernheim Forest with my daughter and two grandchildren. The boy is a veteran of this program for pre-schoolers, but it was the first time for our granddaughter. They talked about rainbows and made crafts with all the colors of the rainbow. Miss Whitney does a wonderful job with these very young children.

I've learned to pack a picnic lunch and camera for the day. The cell phone takes good photos of the kids in action, but I need a better lens for any birds or flowers I might find. The silo area just below the education building, is a great place for birding. In fact, you could do a Big Sit and come up with a decent list in a short time. Getting close enough for photos is more of a challenge though. One of the first birds I heard was a Baltimore Oriole, way up in the sycamores where I couldn't find him. Down in the woods, a Wood Peewee called, and out in the meadow several Field Sparrows called from the grass. Flickers nest above the picnic tables too.

The Purple Martin houses attract large numbers of Martins, while a nearby Bluebird box has a closed-circuit camera showing the chicks, who will be ready to fly any time now.

 

 

At the observation room in the education building, the neighboring birds come to chow down at the feeders....

...while the gardens bloom profusely. I'm glad to find little tree seedlings invading their gardens just like we have at home.