Date: 9/8/26 11:00 am From: Ted Floyd <tedfloyd73...> Subject: [cobirds] finches along U.S. 40 in nw. Colo.
Hey, all.
Yesterday, Labor Day, Mon., Sept. 7, I did a bit of birding along U.S. Hwy
40 from Hayden, Routt Co., to Berthoud Pass, Grand & Clear Creek cos.
Things started off with a wakeup call from *sandhill cranes* and a small
flock of *type 4 evening grosbeaks* at the Carpenter Ranch. Type 4 is the
expected evening grosbeak in Colorado, with a distinctive "lower-case *n*"
flight call. Here's a spectrogram of one of the Carpenter Ranch birds:
[image: EvGr T4.png]
The expected grosbeak type here, yes, but...who knows? Recordings of type 1
outnumber those of type 4 on the other side of the hill, in Salt Lake Co.,
Utah, and type 1 apparently occurs regularly all the way into Daggett &
Uintah cos., Utah
<https://i0.wp.com/blog.aba.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/6a00e5505da1178834017ee6c55667970d.jpg>,
practically in Colo. Birders in w. Colo. should absolutely be on the
lookout for type 1 evening grosbeaks, as was nicely attested by Saturday's
Colorado Birding Challenge effort by Nathan Pieplow & Company in Dolores
Co. Meanwhile, the evening grosbeaks of the Black Hills, South Dakota, may
be type 3s. Again, who knows! Fortunately, evening grosbeak call types are
loud, low-pitched, and easily recorded, with a cellphone being fine for
most purposes; we birders are well positioned to make cool contributions to
the basic natural history of the species, or species complex.
Where was I again? š
Ah yes. On the road, and now out in the Muddy Creek drainage, in the Routt
National Forest, Grand Co. What a great spot. It is, in my experience, the
best straight-up birding stop along U.S. 40 in the whole of the Rabbit Ears
passes, plural, region. Crossbills stole the show there yesterday morning,
with both *type 2 red crossbills* and *type 5 red crossbills* in gratifying
plenitudinousness.
Type 2 is the red crossbill most familiar to birders along the I-25 urban
corridor. Its flight call is powerful and pounding, sharply down-slurred,
with a kink or crook in the middle. Here's one of the Muddy Creek type 2s:
[image: ReCr T2.png]
Type 2 is also known as the "ponderosa pine" red crossbill. The tree was
recently split (by scientists, not by loggers), with ours being *Pinus
scopulorum*, the Rocky Mountains ponderosa pine, and crossbill expert Craig
Benkman tells me that *P. scopulorum* is preferred by type 2; *P. ponderosa
sensu stricto, *occurring farther west, is less favored. So "our" ponderosa
pine is the real deal. All that said, there are no ponderosa pines, of any
sort, so far as I can surmise, in, or anywhere particularly close to, the
Routt National Forest. Go figure. Birds have wings.
There were however, lodgepole pines, *Pinus contorta*, all over the place,
and, unsurprisingly, a great many type 5 red crossbills. The flight call of
type 5 is sharply down-slurred, like that of type 2, but that's about the
end of the similarities. Type 5's flight call has two discrete components;
our defective human ears and brainsāit's more of a brain problem, really,
than an ear problemādon't hear the two components; instead, we hear a
single, rather flat or dry note, distinct, with some practice, from the
pounding, ringing flight call of type 2. Here's one of the Muddy Creek type
5s:
[image: ReCr T5.png]
Crossbills weren't the only finches in the Muddy Creek drainage. Along
about a mile of the U.S. Forest Service road there, I saw/heard two *type 4
evening grosbeaks,* eight* pine grosbeaks,* five *Cassin finches,* and
about 70 *pine siskins.* Raptors: seeing both a *golden eagle* and an *American
goshawk* up there was a thrill. Breeders: *Mountain white-crowned sparrows,
Lincoln sparrows*, and *Wilson warblers* were still hanging on in decent
numbers; a bit tardy was a *Hammond flycatcher* that even gave a brief
snippet of song. Regulids: I heard twice as many *ruby-crowned
kinglets* as *golden-crowned
kinglets,* a sorry testament to my diminished hearing, rather than the
actual relative abundance of the two species there. *Canada jays:* oh yes.
Anyhow, I eventually, and reluctantly, pulled myself away from the Muddy
Creek drainage, and so shall we.
Grand Co. reservoirs along U.S. 40 were depressing. The water is extremely
low at both Wolford Mountain and Williams Fork reservoirs. At Windy Gap
Reservoir, there was, well, too much waterāso much so that the shoreline
was flooded. I had a grand total of zero shorebirds at the three
reservoirs. (And a few days earlier, at almost-gone Green Mountain
Reservoir, south of Kremmling, the same result, or non-result.)
The Fraser "River" at the Winter Park ski resort had a skyful of *type 2
red crossbills,* and, just as at Muddy Creek, nary a ponderosa pine to be
seen. The "river" itself had many migrants, all common species: *chipping
sparrow, Brewer sparrow, Audubon warbler,* and *Wilson warbler. *Cool to
seem out on the rocks, where they were hunting bugs.
Berthoud Pass had no crossbills, for whatever reason, but did have a coupla
nice *American three-toed woodpeckers.*
And then, OMG, the drive back to the metro region in stop-and-go, mostly
"stop," Labor Day traffic. But it wasn't all that bad. Check this out. The
dudes in front of me, in a pickup truck larger than anybody "needs" and
emblazoned with a Blue Lives Matter flag, had this elk-calling contraption
that they activated endlessly and that was freakishly hi-fi. And loud. Was
it ever loud. Not gonna lie, those guys delivered much needed cheer and
quirk during what otherwise would have been about the most miserable two
hours of my lifeāand the lives of all others within earshot of their
contraption. Will wonders never cease?
Ted Floyd
Lafayette, Boulder Co.
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