ACES // City of Aspen Open Space Birding: Meadows Open Space 6/14/2024

The lush foliage and rushing rivers mark early spring in the special open space between the Aspen Institute campus and the Roaring Fork River. Our first bird was a red-tailed hawk calling from the top of a nearby spruce tree. We found many western flycatchers, vireos, and yellow warblers, mainly detecting them by ear. Our loop route took us through varied habitats and included a couple of short, flooded sections of riverside trail that we bushwacked around. Highlights were finding an active sapsucker nest, seeing a male mountain bluebird in excellent light, seeing dippers negotiating the wild river, observing hummingbirds mating, and several herons that flew over. Join us on Wednesday for a birding field trip in the burn area on Basalt Mountain!