Fall Birding: Ranch at Roaring Fork 09/24/26

This special outing was made possible by residents of Ranch at Roaring Fork who hosted our field trip and provided access to the extensive open space encompassing ponds, river front, waterways, patches of forest, grasslands, and residential landscaping. At the outset, we found ourselves birding avidly from our host’s front yard where we had excellent views of a large maple tree where sapsucker wells were attracting tanagers and squirrels to feed on the juicy sap, as well as the red-taped sapsucker itself who was feeding and maintaining the wells. We watched two hummingbirds displaying and interacting between bouts of perching on a spruce in the yard. It was a treat to see these birds in excellent light, and so late in the season. Evening grosbeaks and other finches flew about in loose flocks among all of the trees around us, from towering cottonwoods to small, ornamental fruit trees. After watching the activity here, we made our way to a trail between homes leading into the open space. We paused here for quite a while, enthralled with four species of warblers and several species of sparrows that were concentrated in shrubs and on the edges of the trail. Birds perched on fence rails, giving us excellent views of their field marks and behaviors. This was the greatest concentration of birds this morning! Moving on, we watched pied-billed grebes actively diving on the pond along with a flock of ring-necked ducks, and in an adjacent pond, we saw mallards and lesser scaup. Throughout the rest of our hike through a variety of habitats, we saw Clark’s nutcrackers, pinyon jays, Brewer’s blackbirds, kingfisher, and more warblers. We discussed post-breeding season dispersal behaviors and birds’ flexibility in finding food resources during a drought year. Join us on October 8th for a fall Birding By Habitat outing at Windstar Preserve!