Hi Everyone- Today 1/3 I drove up to Fort Collins to check in on the crossbills. It seemed very quiet today at Grandview Cemetery, and with the overcast, the mood was especially lugubrious. Toward noon I ran into Connie and Joyce Takamine, and soon after, we all got good looks at the male White-winged Crossbill in spruces where sections 7 and 8 come together (toward the south end). I saw not a single Red Crossbill. In the afternoon I went over to Stout (which my Rand McNally calls "Horsetooth Heights" for some reason) and saw no redpoll. House Finches, Dark-eyed Juncos (mostly Pink-sided, with one Slate-colored and one Gray-headed), and a Western Scrub-Jay dominated the feeders, and the normally feisty siskins didn't get much food. From there, I went to Simpson Ponds SWA and saw no blackbirds, but it was snowing and getting late, so I'll have to try again another day. In case the directions aren't clear (they sure weren't for me), get on either 14th Street SE going east from US 287 or CO-402 going west from I-25 (they're the same street, but there is no CO-402 signage on US 287). At LCR 9E, go north, and turn left as soon as you cross the Big Thompson River into a parking lot. I'm not sure if I found the small stream fed by a culvert, and it didn't help that people in camo with shotguns were walking in the middle of the river. You can also get there on 1st Street SE from US 287 if you follow 1st until it ends at LCR 9E, then go south on 9E past the obvious parking lot on the right to the smaller one on the right next to the river.
Mark Miller Longmont, CO -- Colorado Field Ornithologists: http://www.cfo-link.org/ Colorado County Birding: http://www.coloradocountybirding.com/ 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
