Joe Mammoser and I birded Weld County today. Highlights: SR14/CR51 east of Ault (pasture to the east of this intersection): Mountain Plover (4)
CR90 east of CR 51: Golden Eagle (has been sitting on the silo (the other day with a second bird) on the south side of CR90 for the last week - there are nests in the Siberian elm at this locale but they look too small for use by eagles) Crow Valley Campground: Lincoln's Sparrow (1) west of the main picnic shelter in the willow thicket Red-naped Sapsucker (1 adult m) northwest corner Great Horned Owl (female on nest) right over the group shelter in a tree (elm?, forgot to check) in the northwest corner Ruby-crowned Kinglet (heard) Say's Phoebe (2) out in the north part (Mourning Dove Trail) McCown's Longspur (1 flyover) [The gate is now open and you can drive into the campground. Things are dry and the cottonwoods seem behind in their development, compared to Fort Collins.] GR96 ("Murphy's Pasture"): McCown's Longspur (several, but not a zillion) almost had a great photo of one but a birding tour van tried to pass us on the right, believe it or not, and scared it off! Chestnut-collared Longspur (1) [Just east of the intersection of GR96 and GR69 there are a few places along the north side of 96 with standing water. In the next day or so until this dries up, these waterholes would be good places to watch, from a distance, for longspurs, etc.] Crom Lake (west of Pierce on CR31 s of CR90: Lesser Yellowlegs (1) FOS American Avocet (10+) FOS Baird's Sandpiper (1) FOS Cackling Geese (hundreds) Unnamed lake on the east side of CR31 about 1 mile south of SR14: Few thousand geese, most of which looked like Cackling and a few (3-4) "white" geese that looked small enough to be Ross's Woods Lake (on the south side of CR74 between Rd 27 and Rd 29: Clark's Grebe (at least 2) FOS Western Grebe (several) Great-tailed Grackle (heard) Yellow-headed Blackbird (heard) lots of other common waterfowl Still conspicuous numbers of kestrels on the grasslands, as well as a mini-plague of Redshank grasshoppers (Xanthippus corallipes). This big, yellow-winged grasshopper with red hind "thighs" is a common prey item for Loggerhead Shrikes and Swainson's Hawks. One of these days soon, both bird species will arrive and be elated to see the table set with a favorite entree. Unless it rains a little bit soon, not sure what the grasshoppers will have to eat, however. Dave Leatherman Fort Collins --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ 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 -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---