That's a mouthful.
Me, Lauren Burke (my older sister for those who aren't in the
know), Lori Brummer and an unnamed special-friend-ditching-work went
birding yesterday. It was an interesting day with a tally of 91
species total. Crow Valley felt like mid-April and had the birds to
prove it - Yellow-rumped, Orange-crowned Warblers and the like. Only
two Bullock's Orioles, a bunch of Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, Chipping
and Clay-colored Sparrows. And it was freezing. We were able to nab
a Yellow Warbler on our way out.
We proceeded to head out on the Pawnee Birders Loop which proved to
be an interesting and rather exciting several miles. McCown's
Longspurs, Horned Larks and bunches of Lark Buntings entertained us
as we slithered out way down the road. Not bad really, but when the
tour goes north, we decided to keep heading west as they had a bunch
of road equipment working the north section.
Some among us would say it was a bad decision. As we passed the work
trucks all around the intersection, the road became very wet, very
muddy & very tricky! There was no way to turn around. Stopping was
not recommended. The next 2-3 miles were quite an adventure. My jeep
liberty has the scars to prove it. Or maybe Lauren does. Ask her.
The funny thing was as we were slopping, sliding and grinding along
praying we wouldn't get stuck, the gals were calling out bird names!
I distinctly remember my sis yelling "AVOCET! There's an AVOCET on
the bank of that puddle!" Wipers were flapping, mud and water was
flying, knuckles were whitening and I was grinning. It was pretty
fun, but had we gotten stuck, it would have not been fun at all. At
one point the mud was 5-6 inches deep and the tracks before mine were
wider so it was pretty sketchy going to keep from landing forever in
a ditch. I think the skid plates underneath let us slide along the
top, while the tires were bouncing in the ruts.
We had a window cleaning and life celebration party at the
intersection where we got back on "improved roads" (Lori liked that
term it seemed), then meandered on said roads for another hour or so
looking for Chestnut-collared Longspurs and Mountain Plover - we
found neither. Loggerhead Shrikes were abundant it seemed.
So we headed down to Lower Lathum & Beebe Draw and had a great time
birding there. Tons of stuff around, and a very unusual Willet. This
bird had an orange-buffy tail, very dark below, just strange looking.
I put it out to several folks and most thought oil was a possibility.
Email me if you want a pic to see.
We had 9 Whimbrels, too. Oh! We got our Chestnut-collared Longspur
on CR 40, it was hanging out with the bizarre Willet.
It was a very fun day. And I washed my car today.
Our list, courtesy of Lori is below:
Canada Goose
Gadwall
Mallard
Blue-Winged Teal
Cinnamon Teal
Northern Shoveler
Northern Pintail
Green-winged Teal
Redhead
Lesser Scaup
Ruddy Duck
Ring-necked Pheasant
American White Pelican
Double-crested Cormorant
American Bittern
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Black-crowned Night Heron
White-faced Ibis
Northern Harrier
Swainson's Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Krider's Hawk also
Ferruginous Hawk ,Setting on the huge nest; aerial battle with the
Swainson's hawks
American Kestrel
Prairie Falcon
Sora
American Coot
Killdeer
Black-necked Stilt
American Avocet
Willet But an odd looking one at that!
Lesser Yellowlegs
Whimbrel I think we had 9.
Long-billed Dowitcher
Wilson's Snipe
Wilson's Phalarope
Ring-billed Gull
Rock Pigeon
Eurasian Collared-Dove
Mourning Dove
Great Horned Owl
Burrowing Owl
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Least Flycatcher
Say's Phoebe
Cassin's Kingbird
Western Kingbird
Loggerhead Shrike
Blue Jay
Black-billed Magpie
Horned Lark
Tree Swallow
Bank Swallow
Cliff Swallow
Barn Swallow
Rock Wren
House Wren
Marsh Wren
Ruby-crowned Kinglet Showing off his ruby crown
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Swainson's Thrush
American Robin
Northern Mockingbird
Brown Thrasher
European Starling
Orange-crowned Warbler
Yellow Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Both Audubon and Myrtle)
Common Yellowthroat
Chipping Sparrow
Clay-colored Sparrow
Brewer's Sparrow
Vesper Sparrow
Lark Sparrow
Lark Bunting
Savannah Sparrow
Lincoln's Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
McCown's Longspur
Chestnut-collared Longspur
Black-headed Grosbeak
Red-winged Blackbird
Western Meadowlark
Yellow-headed Blackbird
Common Grackle
Great-tailed Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird
Bullock's Oriole
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow
Connie Kogler
Twitter @ConnieKogler
BirdsOTheMorning.com
Colorful Colorado!
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