Pikes Peak Birding & Nature Festival

An Ash-throated Flycatcher at Clear Spring Ranch

Every year that I am home, I attend the Pikes Peak Birding & Nature Festival, which offers classes, social events and guided birding events all over the Pikes Peak region.

The eight-year-old festival's motto is "prairie to peak" and it almost lives up to the billing. 

There are lots and lots of prairie sessions, but very few on the peaks. They are talking about adding more in the future.

The festival coincides with spring bird migration along Colorado's Front Range and, unfortunately, also coincides with the area's most unpredictable weather. I have been when it was blazing hot and when there was a foot of snow. Unfortunately, this year was foggy and wet, which is terrible for birding and even worse for bird photography.

Mid-day fog on the prairie

Fortunately, the sun came out on the final day.

A female Black-headed Grosbeak enjoying (finally!) some sunshine

According to the festival, over eight years participants have identified 264 species, which is about half of all birds ever recorded in the state of Colorado.  

Early on, I attended because I was new to birding. Now that I have been in Colorado for awhile, only rarities would be new for me. But, I had a goal. I has missed seeing a Bobolink a few years earlier and, despite multiple tries, still hadn't seen one. So, that was my main objective.

Plus, I am always open to better photos of birds I have seen before, grabbing a few Colorado birds I am missing, learning about local birding sites and meeting new birding friends.

Another unfortunate thing about the festival is that it is extraordinarily popular. I didn't move fast enough and missed out on many sessions I wanted to attend. That's amazing since there were 30 different birding sessions, some of which were offered multiple times for a total of 45 opportunities to bird. 

Fellow participants at one of my sessions

There were also two "bugging" (looking for and identifying bugs) activities in three sessions, nine different seminars with 11 sessions and three workshops.

Nature is a focus; Raccoon at Fountain Creek Regional Park

I ended up going back to two places I had been before (one on purpose because of the prospect of the aforementioned Bobolink) and going to one site that has just opened. I'll talk about them in a minute.

Virtual and Classroom Sessions

I attended two ZOOM seminars, including Birds of the Pikes Peak Region, presented by Fountain Creek Nature Center Supervisor Jessica Miller ...

My photos: Broad-tailed Hummingbird, Red-tailed Hawk, Downy Woodpecker

... and an overview of White-tailed Ptarmigan Research in the Rocky Mountains by Amy Seglund, a Wildlife Biologist for Colorado Parks and Wildlife ...

My photo: White-tailed Ptarmigan

I rounded it out with an excellent workshop on eBird taught by local birder Mel Goff. 

eBird is the world's premier free internet-based birding platform

Administered by The Cornell Lab of Ornithology, eBird uses input from hundreds of thousands of birders who have contributed more than 60 million checklists to build a powerful birding database. I learned a million tricks that I have probably forgotten by now. 

I was able to get into three birding walks.

Kane Ranch Open Space

My first session – on a very foggy/rainy morning – was at one of the newest places to bird in El Paso County (I live in El Paso County). I had been in the parking lot of Kane Ranch Open Space a few times because of the welcome addition of a restroom out where I often bird on Squirrel Creek Road. But, I hadn't walked the trails.

This short-grass prairie habitat that includes a Prairie Dog town and dry cottonwood creekbed was once a part of a ranch established in the 1940s by Wanden Matthews La Farge. 

Wanden Kane: Historic Fountain Colorado

Wanden came from a privileged background in New York and was extremely well-educated and well-traveled. Her first husband, Oliver La Farge, was a noted American writer and anthropologist best known for his research and writing on Native American culture. 

After Wanden divorced Oliver in 1935, she resettled with her the children in Fountain, Colorado. She bought 5,000 acres east of town and hired Alexander "Andy" Kane, a local rancher, as the foreman. Wanden and Andy eventually married and the ranch became known as Kane Ranch. Wanden served two terms as mayor of Fountain starting in 1942 and was Colorado's first female mayor.

The open space, located four miles east of Fountain on Squirrel Creek Road, was acquired by El Paso County in 2003. It offers views of Pikes Peak and Cheyenne Mountain (except on the day we went when visibility was limited). The Lariat Loop Trail, part of which we hiked, is a 3.5-mile-long double-track natural-surface path.

Much of the walk is through the Prairie Dog town; this is a Black-tailed Prairie Dog

We had hoped to see Burrowing Owls, but had to be satisfied with a distant and unexpected Peregrine Falcon, a couple of American Kestrels and two Great Horned Owls that flew overhead several times by managed to escape being captured on any photos.

Peregrine Falcon and American Kestrel

But, I saw 32 species and got OK photos of 16 (that's a low percentage, but the weather was BAD).

Even though grassland is the main focus, we saw a lot more birds (and spent more time) in the Cottonwoods ...

Top: Swainson's Thrush, Northern Mockingbird, Chipping Sparrow, Red-headed Woodpecker, Lark Sparrow; Bottom: Female Bullock's Oriole, Brown-headed Cowbirds, male Bullock's Oriole, Western Kingbird, Western Wood-Pewee

We observed a Cowbird coming out of a nest and moments later saw a Northern Flicker enter. Perhaps the Cowbird was looking for some surrogates ...

Just missed an intruder

The prairie birds were few, far-between and distant ...

Western Meadowlark, Cassin's Kingbird, Lark Bunting

But, this was pretty cool ...

Velvet Ant

I was prepared for it to rain on our walk, but it didn't until right after I got in my car when it was over. Then, it poured.

Fountain Valley School 

My next trip was a repeat from previous years, but a special one because, under normal conditions, you cannot bird at the private Fountain Valley School. The festival provides entry to this incredible habitat.

For years, they have been known for their Bald Eagle nest

Fountain Valley School, a coed independent college preparatory school that offers day and boarding programs for students in grades 9-12, was established in 1930. The main 1,100-acre campus is about 10 miles from my house and the school also has a 40-acre mountain campus near Buena Vista, Colorado. About 243 students from 24 states and 21 countries attend; many of them also board their horses on campus.

The campus encompasses an extensive wetland ...

A Blue-winged Teal in a pond

... a small forest ...

A departing Gray Catbird

... and a big field favored by migrating Bobolinks ...

The beautiful male!

The weather was crappy again.

A very wet little Song Sparrow

How crappy? We saw 46 bird species and I got semi-decent photos of about a third of them. 

  Top: American Robin, American Goldfinches, Mourning Dove, Bullock's Oriole, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher; Bottom: Female Red-winged Blackbird, Yellow Warbler, Eastern Kingbird, Swainson's Thrush, Barn Swallow

And, one of our group found us another treat, too ...

Prairie Rattler! He even rattled!

But, for me, the best was a new lifer!

A Bobolink!!!!

Clear Spring Ranch

My final walk was a place I have been many, many times, mainly by myself but one other time at the birding festival. I wouldn't have signed up for it, but it was one of the few left on Sunday morning and I know Clear Spring Ranch is always good for birds. It didn't disappoint.

Top: Western Wood-Pewee, Northern Flicker, Bullock's Oriole, Lark Sparrow; Bottom: American Kestrel, House Wren, Brown-headed Cowbirds, Ash-throated Flycatcher

Nor did the weather, which was a sunny, bright and warm. What a change!

A Yellow-breasted Chat celebrating a pretty day

Owned by Colorado Springs Utilities and managed by El Paso County Parks, Clear Spring Ranch Open Space is a 930-acre linear park situated along Fountain Creek south the city of Fountain. It features an active farm, grasslands and foothills ecosystems and a riparian habitat. Its four miles of trails include the southernmost extent of the Fountain Creek Regional Trail and Colorado Front Range Trail. It also has a pavilion, picnic tables, restroom and a nice gravel parking lot.

We saw 48 species, some close and highly cooperative and some pretty far away.

Top: American Crow, Spotted Towhee, Warbling Vireo, Black-headed Grosbeak; Bottom: American Robin, White-breasted Nuthatch, Green-tailed Towhee, Blue Grosbeak

I even got a lifer!

My first Hammond's Flycatcher

As we were finishing our walk, we saw two soaring raptors and our guide almost dismissed them as the ubiquitous Red-tailed Hawk. But one didn't seem quite right. It was a Broad-winged Hawk! Not unknown in Colorado, but certainly not common.

Different markings: Broad-winged and Red-tailed (a juvenile)

Birds, Brews & Bites

I even attended the Birds, Brews, and Bites event that featured food, drinks, beer from Phantom Canyon Brewery, live music and door prizes. I didn't win.

I pulled this photo from the festival Facebook page and found myself in the middle

I had a great time at the festival and will attend again if I am home.

Dates: May 18-21, 2023