ACES // Pitkin County Open Space Birding: North Star Nature Preserve 7/12/2024

Behaviors were just as interesting as the diverse list of species we experienced at North Star today, in this special trip to the “wildlife only” portion of the nature preserve. Highlights included watching a female hummingbird interacting with scrub-jays and chipping sparrows, fledgling chickadees aggressively begging for food from their parents, a great blue heron hunting on the river, and elusive tanager singing from the fir forest, and Wilson’s snipes calling and flying low over the sedge wetlands. Tree and violet-green swallows were active at nest boxes and at nesting cavities in aspen trees. We also saw antler rubs on aspen saplings, rocks and rotten logs moved by foraging bears, and a concentration of woodpecker foraging excavations on a dead tree that must have been filled with insects. It was a special treat to explore the rich habitats of North Star and experience the birdlife and other wildlife that use this unique part of the Roaring Fork Valley.