Young Birder of the Year Contest

Young Birders' Conference

Camps

ABA Scholarships
   - Recipients

Connect!

A Bird's-Eye View

Join ABA

SCHOLARSHIP REPORTS 2006

2006 Young Birders Conference, Fort Collins, CO

30 June - 5 July 2006

By Ethan Kistler

On Friday June 30th 2006, Brad Wilkinson, Phil Choan, and I were at the Cleveland airport boarding our plane to Denver, Colorado. The three of us live in NE Ohio and have been birding with each other for years. We decided to fly out to CO together to join the American Birding Association's Young Birders' Conference, held in Ft. Collins, Colorado. It was our first time birding in Colorado and hopefully not the last.

When we landed in Denver, we had to wait at the airport for a couple hours because we flew in early. Soon after Jesse Pakkala joined us as we stood in front of the windows looking out across the airport. There wasn't much activity at the airport besides many Western Kingbirds, Rock Pigeons, Cliff Swallows, and the orange variant of House Finches. As soon as everyone flew in we drove to Ft. Collins. After a pizza dinner, Jim Rising gave a workshop on Sparrow ID. His talk was about identification, ecology, and classification of the New World Sparrows in the Family Emberizidae. We all learned something from Jim's excellent workshop. After the workshop we piled in the vans and went to the foothills were we found calling Poorwills. At one point we had one sitting in a bush on top of a hill which we were able to watch.

The next morning we woke up pretty early and headed off to Pawnee National Grasslands in NE Colorado, fifty miles east of the Rockies. On the way there we parked along the road where we found Burrowing Owls and Mountain Plovers. After getting some good looks we were on the road again. We arrived at the Crow Valley Campgrounds and immediately jumped out of the vans and started birding. We found a Common Nighthawk resting on a branch and from a few yards away we looked at it through scopes and snapped many pictures. Also in this area we saw Loggerhead Shrikes, Bullock's Oriole nest, a Lark Sparrow, Lark Bunting, and some Blue Jays, which got the west coast birders' attention. One highlight was watching a Bull Snake eat Western Kingbird babies out of the nest. We then drove around Pawnee looking for other birds. We had found a Golden Eagle sitting on a windmill, many McCown's Longspurs, and over the horizon, a distant Ferruginous Hawk, a lifer for many. Soon after, we found Chestnut-collared Longspurs. After we got our fair share of Longspurs we headed off to the Buttes where we had Rock Wrens and a Prairie Falcon along with great views of the Buttes. When we arrived back at the hotel Michael O'Brien gave a workshop "Techniques of Field Observations" which talked about how to take notes and sketches in the field.

The next day we found ourselves leaving at 3:00 am. On our way to Arapaho National Wildlife Refuge, we stopped on Cameron Pass were we heard Hermit Thrushes, Yellow-rumped Warblers, and "Grey-headed" Juncos. We then stopped farther up the road where we had fantastic looks at a Three-toed Woodpecker along with Pine Grosbeaks, Cassin's Finches, Pine Siskins, Wilson's Warbler, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, and White-crowned Sparrow. We also had a moose a few yards away, the least scared of us. Just before we arrived at Arapaho we stopped once more. We saw Sage Thrashers, Green-tailed Towhee, Brewer's Sparrow, California Gull, Dusky Flycatcher, Mountain Bluebirds, and a Vesper Sparrow. Also Yellow-headed Blackbird and Western Grebe were added to our lists. We arrived at Arapaho NWR, and stopped at the first pond. There we had American Avocets, Wilson's Phalaropes, Cinnamon Teal, Northern Pintail, Canvasback, American Coot, Pied-billed Grebe, Ruddy Duck, Blue-winged Teal, Lesser Scaup, Gadwall, and Killdeer. Erik Enbody also found us a nice Franklin's Gull that was flying over. After looking at the pond we moved on. We then started finding other birds like Eared Grebe, Wilson's Snipe, Northern Shoveler, Western Willet, Forster's and Black Terns, and last and best, Greater Sage-Grouse. We also saw Sora and American Coot chicks. As clouds formed over us we started to head back. On our way back, we stopped to watch a Badger on the side of the road. (I personally think this was one of Steve Howell's favorite parts of the trip.) Once more we stopped to look at some hummingbird feeders outside of a gift shop. We had tons of Broad-tailed Hummingbirds and one early Rufous hummingbird. Also in the area were Violet-green Swallows, Red Crossbills (type 5), and a Red-naped Sapsucker. We arrived back at the hotel and had the evening off. Some of us went off to the hot tub and pool while others relaxed.

On the fourth day we went to Rocky Mountain National Park. On the way there we had a few American Dippers in the Big Thompson River and further up the mountains a Clark's Nutcracker on top of a tree. When we arrived at Medicine Bow Curve, we got out and hiked a trail in search of White-tailed Ptarmigans. We had American Pipits, Horned Larks, Mountain Bluebirds and an out of place Yellow-headed Blackbird but no Ptarmigan. (I did, however, photograph a White-spotted Midget Moth, a species that is associated with antennaria plants which were found in the area.) Afterwards, we made a series of stops until we found a pair of White-tailed Ptarmigans in a pretty crowded area. As we watched and studied these two magnificent birds, we also attracted a crowd of "non-birders" who were just as pleased to see them. After an hour or two of watching the Ptarmigans, we moved on. We ended up at a pine/aspen picnic area were we had Cordilleran, Hammond's, and Gray Flycatchers, Red-naped Sapsucker, Steller's Jays, and all three Nuthatches. All of a sudden it started to pour. Everyone ran into the vans and we were off again. We made one more stop on the way back and found a female Dusky Grouse with three babies just a couple feet from us! After getting great looks at her, we moved on up the trail were we had a really active MacGillivray's Warbler in a bush. When we arrived back at the hotel Louis Zemaitis gave her workshop "Birding from a Naturalists Point of View" where she encouraged us to look at all aspects of nature besides just birds. She also talked about her own experiences. Her motivating talk ended day four.

Day five was spent in Boulder area where we met up with local birder, Ted Floyd, who I previously birded with during the Young Birder Track in Maine. After he gave a brief talk, we headed up Gregory Canyon Trail. There were many species calling here including Western Tanager, Black-headed Grosbeak, Yellow-breasted Chats, Virginia Warbler, Western Wood-pewee, Lazuli Bunting, Lesser Goldfinches, and an occasional Broad-tailed Hummingbird swooshing by. There were also White-throated and Violet-green Swallows over the cliffs above us. Farther up the trail we added Mountain Chickadee, Canyon Wren, and a Townsend's Solitaire. After leaving Gregory Canyon, we went to Walden Ponds where we had quite a few birds including American White Pelicans, Green Heron, Redhead, Greater Yellowlegs, Spotted Sandpiper, Cinnamon Teal, Green-winged Teal along with tons of swallows. Before we left, Bill Schmoker gave a really informative talk on Digiscoping and when we arrived back at the hotel, Steve Howell gave an excellent workshop on molt. He explained all about molting in birds and now we all should be experts!

The final day came way too fast. We first birded some grasslands where we had Cassin's, Grasshopper, Vesper, and Brewer's Sparrows. Afterwards we went to Watson Lake and the area around it. Here we had White-throated Sparrow, Canyon Wren, and baby Barn Owls in a cubby within the rock cliffs. After Brad, Phil, and I said bye to everyone that we had birded with for the past week, we were off to the Denver Airport, and a flight back to Ohio. This was one FANTASTIC trip!

This was one awesome trip and I would like to thank those who made it all possible: The American Birding Association, Ohio Ornithological Society, Kirtland Bird Club, and the Mahoning Valley Audubon chapter. I also want to thank Michael O'Brien, Louis Zemaitis, Steve Howell, Bill Schmoker, and Ted Floyd for leading this trip. I'm looking forward to the next YBC.

These young birders attended the camps/events they report on with the help of ABA scholarships.