Canon City update

Today I checked out some birding areas around Canon City that are usually not very active until fall and winter. The first area was Sell's Lake, actually a smallish private pond that is adjacent to public areas on the Canon City Riverwalk. There are few waterfowl on this pond during the warmer months but it draws a lot of waterfowl in cooler months. Today I saw 9 Hooded Mergansers, 5 Ring-necked Ducks, Gadwalls, 2 Am Coots and 1 Pied-billed Grebe there.

Next I drove to Tunnel Drive Rd on the far west side of Canon City to check out the city water pond, a much larger impoundment than Sell's Lake. There were 3 Hooded Mergansers, 4 Am. Wigeon, 6 Mallards and about 75 Canada Geese there. This is another area that rarely has waterfowl in warmer months.

I drove on to the end of Tunnel Drive road and birded the area there. The Tunnel Drive trail is closed due to damage not yet repaired from strong rains in late summer but there is an area on the bottom that can be birded (and where Rufous-crowned Sparrows reside, though this may be a little early to find them). I did see 5 American Goldfinch, 1 Song Sparrow, 1 Belted Kingfisher (on the adjacent Arkansas River), and 1 Canyon Towhee (a common species usually seen here). Two Norther Flickers flew over and I heard a Townsend's Solitaire caling from the pinyon-juniper woods up on the hillside.
SeEtta