Dear Cobirders, Given that the Campo Lek is closed this year, I thought this would be pertinent. I finally headed down to Elkhart, KS to watch natures very own chicken fighting yesterday (3/23). I had intended to arrive in Elkhart last evening and scope out the east lek in preparation for the pre-dawn drive. I drove up to the blind around 6:00 PM (Central Time, don't forget!) and looked around. I initially didn't see any birds, but something about one of the Yucca's didn't look right. I waited a few more minutes and that something behind the Yucca stood up --- a Lesser Prairie-Chicken! Within a few more minutes, this Chicken was displaying; the sounds of his display attracted other males and soon there were 10 displaying Lesser Prairie-Chickens. The displays went on until after sunset and just after 8:00 PM a Burrowing Owl emerged from a burrow less than a foot from two displaying males. The owl began cooo-cooing and the Prairie-Chicken display immediately stopped, all Chickens frozen in place. After a brief stomping and leaning-over dance, the owl headed back underground. Most of the Prairie-Chickens flew off east into the short-grass prairie and I left, happy that I didn't have to wake up early on the 24th.
The next morning (3/24), I headed out to the Cimarron Recreational Area and birded the riparian corridor. More Lesser Prairie-Chickens could be heard displaying north of the river and many species of Sparrow were present including White-crowned Sparrow (gambelli), Song Sparrow, Vesper Sparrow and two Swamp Sparrows. Other birds such as Wild Turkey were common and a found a small covey of 4 Quail that quickly headed for cover, unidentified (likely Scaled Quail). SInce I need some Colorado birding to make this relevant, I stopped by the Community College Woods in Lamar. I failed to relocate the Northern Cardinal, Carolina Wren of the Red-bellied Woodpecker. I did find many Marsh Wrens and one Eastern Phoebe in the southern section of the woods; I don't know if this is early or unusual for Lamar. Cheers, Walter Szeliga Boulder, CO --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Join us at the 2009 Convention in Alamosa: http://cfo-link.org/convention/index.php You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group. To post to this group, send email to cobirds@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to cobirds+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.as/group/cobirds?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---