Jaeger time!

4 September 2021

After getting green big year bird #250 and missing a jaeger fly by a few days earlier, which was likely a Long-tailed and was never refound, today was the day. However, the journey was quite something!

I had touched base with some local birders about birding plans and decided to go to Cherry Creek State Park (CCSP). I still need some shorebirds, so I opted to head east (19 miles) to the area where shorebirds had been seen recently, which is also the only decent shorebird habitat around since Chatfield is way high for this time of year. I was targeting Pectoral Sandpiper and Sanderling, the latter I missed numerous times by a day or an hour at Chatfield State Park already this year and decided it was time to go get the one hanging out at Cherry Creek.

I take off at dawn and ride the 15 miles to the west entrance of Cherry Creek. It's not a terrible ride by any means, but it's a lot of slight uphill and maybe mentally I've come to not love the ride for some reason. Anyway, I get to the marina on the west side of the park and enjoy a nice sunrise and stopped to check in with a couple folks who were birding there that birding. It's wise and fun to not just chase a birds, but to coordinate with others who are there looking for those same birds and more. 

As I roll into the marina parking lot, my phone starts binging, quacking, and going bonkers. Joey Kellner found a Long-tailed Jaeger at Chatfield State Park. OF COURSE HE DID! I'm not very close to Chatfield at this point and I rode all the way to Cherry Creek already. I sat down and contemplated my sanity for a couple minutes. I ate a snack and stretched. Last August we had a LT Jaeger stay for 5 days at Chatfield. This bird could be a 1 hour wonder or it could stick. You don't know. I told Diane Roberts, who was at Cherry Creek, about the jaeger and that I had decided to turnaround and go for it. Sanity was definitely questioned this morning.

A buddy gave me directions to get to Chatfield a good/better/faster way, but I really didn't want to try to navigate a new route and new roads. Too much unknown for me at the moment. I know a bit of the route and it's a bunch of up and downs and I am not sure I want to do any more climbing than necessary. I could also just backtrack to Littleton, which is largely downhill and fast, and then take the South Platte River Trail (which is flat) to Chatfield. I ate some more food and took off back to Littleton with earnest.  I told Joey and Steve that I was coming, and to keep the bird there! Why us birders say stuff like that, I don't know, it's stupid.

I got to the top of the dam at Chatfield in just over an hour, including a stop to check on the bird and let Joey know I was making good time. I made real GOOD time. And now I'm at 34 miles for the morning already. I call Joey and he says he's at the sand spit and has the bird. I hung up on him too quick and took off full speed across the dam. I get to the east side of the dam and find out the bird is visible in the NW corner of the lake. That's where I just was! Ugh! Stupid me. I think I see it with just binocs, but pack up and race back to the west side of the dam. 

I stop near the boat ramp and I got it! Crummy distant views, but I got it. I saw it fly west back towards the sand spit a little. I call Joey and ask where the bird was etc. to make sure I wasn't crazy. He said just come to the same spit and he'd be there. I rode fairly hard all the way around, which is a few miles. I roll up, exhausted, to find a group of folks (a couple of them taking photos of me riding up, see below) enjoying the jaeger. Distant views, but we got it! I think only 2 people said something like, "It's about time you got here Somershoe." Haha! I tried!

Thanks to Joey Kellner for this one.

I hung out for a while, caught up with folks I don't see often. It was great that some folks I alerted about the bird early were there, including Diane Roberts who ditched Cherry Creek and drove over. That's what it's about. 

I then almost tripped over someone's scope in my exhaustion/delirium and just sat down and ate more food and drank a water bottle full of iced tea :)

I still got home when I had planned to, by 10:30 am, but I had NOT planned to ride 51 miles. I didn't eat breakfast for a 50 miler! But what a great morning, even if my birding didn't go as expected in the end. That's birding. I had a good plan though! And I got Pectoral Sandpiper and Sanderling at Cherry Creek State Park a week later!  

Screen shot of my route east to Cherry Creek and then back and down to Chatfield.

I was pretty tired the next day. I was very sore the second day after this ride. I got out on the bike for 30 min, which sounds crazy, but moving is the best thing you can do in this situation. This day/ride was a heck of a workout. 

To top it off, the Jaeger stayed at least 10 days! I saw it on a couple subsequent trips to Chatfield without really even looking for it! But you never know. I had to go for it and it was well worth it, even if a shrink will think otherwise someday.

A couple lessons learned that just kind of crack me up:

1. When you make a birding plan, call Joey and find out what his plan is.

2. Whatever your birding plan is, just ditch it because it's not wise and just go with Joey.

3. And when you don't do the above and Joey finds a really good bird, you ask not only if the bird is still there but also where EXACTLY the bird is! 

4. Also eat breakfast like you're riding 50 miles, even if you don't plan to.

Photo by Rob Raker

Photo by Rob Raker

Photo by Bil Ford

Photo by Bil Ford

Totals:
Green Big Year species list: 252 (as of Sept 4)

Pledge or donate to support the Joe Roller Memorial Grant. Thank you.
https://cobirds.org/CFO/Grants/

Thanks for reading!
Scott