On this cloudy, cool, humid morning, a friend and I observed an excellent variety of birds at South Platte Park, dominated by hundreds of violet-green swallows. Since the wind was calm, the resident and migrant songbirds were especially noisy and active.
In addition to more common species, we encountered American white pelicans, western grebes, a bald eagle and a hermit thrush. Joining the many songsters (yellow and yellow-rumped warblers, house wrens, spotted towhees and gray catbirds) in a lakeside woodland were four yellow-breasted chats, the first I have heard this spring. I also observed a pair of Swainson's thrushes (headed for the mountains or Canada) and an eastern phoebe (rare along the Front Range).
Though we have not yet escaped our risk for snow, this morning's songsters offered reassurance that spring has finally taken hold in Metro Denver. Late migrants, including western tanagers, will likely confirm that fact over the next week or so.
