Morning Birding at Hallam Lake 3/1/22

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Tuesday, March 1, 2022, 8am-11am
Weather: Sunny
Location: Hallam Lake

This outing gave us a sneak peek into the preserve while habitat restoration and berm repair work is wrapping up. By our next outing, we will see the preserve beginning to recover. It will be fascinating to see more wildlife return and to observe the response to the new shores, aquatic landscape, and temporary habitat (newly graded areas awaiting the regrowth of plant life). Today, we enjoyed several excellent observations of American Dippers in the quiet water of the channel and in the river. In great light, we saw the subtle plumage colors and details of the legs and feet, as well as foraging behavior — swimming and submerging, picking through wet leaves among cobbles at the edge of the river. We also heard contact calls of various nuthatches and finches as they foraged in the forest canopy, and the songs of chickadees and red-winged blackbirds. Today’s mini lesson focused on a blue jay that has been observed in Basalt over the past several weeks — an unusual species for the western slope of Colorado. Join us for our next birding outing!

Species List: 

Mallard
American Crow
Black-billed Magpie
Black-capped Chickadee
Mountain Chickadee
White-breasted Nuthatch
Pygmy Nuthatch
American Dipper
Pine Siskin
Red-winged Blackbird

~ Rebecca Weiss, ACES Bird Guide

Photo of Pygmy Nuthatch by Russ Taylor.