Colorado Trip (Days 1 and 2)

I arrived at the Denver Airport at about ten a.m. and after meeting with my uncle we were looking for Burrowing Owls in about an hour on the west edge of the airport. As we were driving along the road we came across two kettles of Swainson's Hawks, I estimated about fifty. Here are a few shots.

After shooting some pictures we continued on to the spot where the Burrowing Owls were supposed to be. After a little bit of searching we spotted one when it briefly flew and landed on a Prairie Dog mound.

There were many Prairie Dogs and I managed some good shots of them thanks to the 400mm lens from my uncle.

As we were heading back to the car I spotted another Burrowing Owl sitting on the fence. It flew down after a minute to join two other burrowing owls sitting on a Prairie Dog mound! I think that this must have been a family of Burrowing Owls, this was a great lifer to start my trip. At the hotel in the evening I found several young rabbits and was able to get some good pictures of them.

Today I met Kathy Dunning, a local birder, at five-thirty this morning at Deer Creek Canyon, a park in the foothills west of Denver. I saw four lifers; Virginia's Warbler, MacGillivray's Warbler, Lesser Goldfinch, and Lazuli Bunting. Spotted Towhees were everywhere and Broad-tailed Hummingbird, Cordilleran Flycatcher, Western Scrub-Jay, and Black-headed Grosbeak were birds I saw that I don't see in the east. Here is a picture of the area.

Tomorrow I am heading for Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park and then for Mesa Verde, I will update my blog as often as possible.