Spring is here! Time to get out and enjoy all the nature that Colorado has to offer. A great outdoor activity that anyone can do is bird watching and Jefferson County is a great place to start. A local birding company makes it easy (and cheap!) for anyone to join in the fun.
Front Range Birding Company (FRBC) first started in 2003 with the simple mission to improve the bird watching community in the Denver Metro area. They strive to help people enjoy the wildlife in their own backyard. What started as a hobby for Tom and Diane Bush is now a thriving business and whether you are a beginning bird watcher or a professional ornithologist, FRBC wants to help. One of the things they do for the community is provide bird walks and seminars.
The Bird Walks and Talks welcome all levels of bird watchers. With spring just around the corner, FRBC is adding more and more dates to their monthly bird walks. Owner Tom Bush is glad to elaborate.
Walk the Wetlands – These bird walks are held the first Sunday of every month in conjunction with the Audubon Society of Greater Denver and include Audubon bird guides. Starting in April the walks begin at 8 a.m. and go until noon. Birders meet at the Audubon Center at Chatfield located just off Waterton Canyon Road, 4.4 miles south of C-470 and Wadsworth. Walkers explore habitats along rivers, streams and open grasslands.
Chatfield State Park Walks – Held on the last Saturday of each month, these walks feature naturalist and park ranger Joey Kelner, and cover a wide variety of bird habitats from open water, shoreline, forest edge and grassland. These walks are also from 8 a.m. until noon and there is some getting in and out of cars as birders travel through the park.
Spring-Summer program at Roxborough State Park –For three months FRBC will combine birding with other nature topics. On Saturday, May 28, is “Wildflowers and Birds;” Saturday, June 25, is “Geology and Birds;” and Saturday, July 16, is “Roxborough History and Birds.”
Most walks cover about 3 miles round trip. Just some of the birds one might see are raptors, ducks and seed-eating perching birds, but Bush says there are always surprises. On some of their earlier walks, they have seen Red Tail hawks, Northern Harriers, American Kestrels and Bald and Golden eagles. Bush expects to see a large number of migrant birds on the spring walks. On the April and May Sunday walks birders will be able to visit the Audubon’s bird banding station where they will see many birds, such as warblers, fly catchers, catbirds, werns, jays, kingbird, shrikes and bluebirds, up close and personal. The most unusual bird Bush has seen on these walks is an American Dipper. He says he enjoyed watching them plunge into the fast moving water as they foraged the river bottom. He has also seen nesting Broadtail hummingbirds. Bush wants to remind walkers to dress in layers and long pants are recommended. Birders should also bring binoculars, field guides, water and a snack. Bush says these walks are a great community service and a fun activity that families can do together.
All walks are free, however, the Roxborough State Park walks do require a Parks Pass to get into the park and donations to the Audubon Society for the Sunday walks are greatly appreciated. Anyone can join the Walk the Wetlands and Chatfield walks. For the Roxborough walks, however, space is limited and Bush needs people to RSVP, which they can do by calling FRBC at 303-979-2473.
Bush also wants people to know about their upcoming Open House and Birding Festival on Saturday, May 7. The event, which celebrates International Migratory Bird Day, features a wide variety of activities for all ages. Events include an all-day arts and crafts fair, live bluegrass music, presentations by HawkQuest, a raptor conservation group, a silent auction and their afternoon feature event “Dove Race for Youth.” At 2 p.m. FRBC will release over 100 white homing pigeons and each pigeon will have a group or individual sponsor. The birds will “race” back to their home base in Arvada with prizes given the wining sponsors. Proceeds from the race and silent auction will benefit the Jason Dahl Scholarship Foundation, which provides scholarships to aviation students at Metro State University. This is the fourth year of the “Dove Race for Youth” and the seventh year FRBC has held this day-long event. The festival will be held in the Jefferson Village/Kohl’s Shopping Center (where FRBC is located) on the northeast corner of C-470 and Kipling Parkway. For more information on the event and how to sponsor a dove, visit the FRBC Open House page.
One of the easiest ways to enjoy birds is to get outside and watch them, whether in a backyard or a state park. The Front Range Birding Company makes it easy for beginning bird watchers to learn the basics and most importantly, get outside. To learn more about the birds of Jefferson County or bird watching in general, visit the Front Range Birding Company website or the Front Range Birding Blog.
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