Hello, Birders. Here's a somewhat belated report from the past few days.
Sunday, Sept. 5th. Greenlee Preserve, Boulder County. The night flight in the 2am hour was the heaviest yet this season. Just the Wilson's Warblers were flying over at 80 per hour. When Andrew and I went back to bed at 3:30, the flight was still going strong--audible outside the bedroom window. If you want more details, try the NFC-L list: http://tinyurl.com/272mdn9 Sunday, Sept. 5th. The pit at Last Chance, Washington County. Andrew and I saw a Red-breasted Nuthatch and a Gray Flycatcher. Then we saw Bill Maynard and Bryan Patrick. I was about to launch into a lecture about how Gray Flycatcher is far less common on the eastern plains than most people realize, and you shouldn't believe many sight records of the species from the eastern plains...whereupon Bryan whipped out his big ole camera and got some marvelous and diagnostic photos of the Gray Flycatcher. We saw a Least Flycatcher, too, and a Townsend's Warbler, and all 3 mimids, and an "interesting" wood-pewee (amid many perfectly straightforward Western Wood-Pewees), and 2 Warbling Vireos that were colored like Philadelphia Vireos but weren't. Sunday, Sept. 5th. Fox Ranch, Yuma County. It was 100 degrees as we made the turnoff toward the ranch. On County Road U, Andrew and I saw something extraordinary: In the tall shadows of each telephone pole, about 10-20 Horned Larks were lurking, staying out of the sun. It continued like that for *miles*, each telephone pole shadow with its little population of regularly spaced Horned Larks. Fascinating. At the ranch proper, we were joined again by Bill and Bryan. A nice bird was an Ovenbird by the bridge over the Arickaree "River." Nicer still was an Archilochus hummingbird, a county record according to the Colorado County Birding Site. The bird was a male, briefly glimpsed, with a shiny green back; given the date and location, I would say it was probably a Ruby-throated Hummingbird. But needless to say, it's a spuh. For sure, spuhs can be great birds, county firsts even. Other birds of note included a great throng of nighthawks, 12 Red-headed Woodpeckers, 1 Eastern Phoebe, 1 carolinensis White-breasted Nuthatch, 10 Cheddar Waxwings, a surprising 5 Townsend's Warblers, 13 Orchard Orioles, and 1 Baltimore Oriole. At sundown, there was no wind at all, and we were serenaded by a Great Horned Owl. Monday, Sept. 6th. Fox Ranch, Yuma County. Andrew, Bill, Bryan, and I kept birding the ranch. A powerful west wind had come around 2am and blew like crazy till dawn. Then it died down, and we could hear Eastern Screech-Owls whinnying down by the "river," and it was time to start birding. For a whopping 45 minutes, conditions remained calm, and we found birds like Yellow-billed Cuckoo and a flock of Eastern Bluebirds. Then it got ferociously windy, and we had to work hard for every bird--or perhaps I should say for any birds at all. We saw a Gray Flycatcher, but it didn't get photographed (see remarks above). Also interesting so far east was a Hammond's Flycatcher. And a "Western" Flycatcher. And 4 Townsend's Warblers; what's up with all the Townsend's, on both days, so close to the Kansas border? Back up at the headquarters building, there was an Ovenbird--maybe the same one from the day before? Sparrow diversity was decent, although with nothing at all out of the ordinary; we saw a few Grasshopper, Clay-colored, and Brewer's sparrows. Plus the usual slug of Red-headed Woodpeckers, Orchard Orioles, and so forth. We discovered, by the way, that all our tents had blown away, but that Bill's tripod and telescope were still standing. That would be a great ad for Bogen. Monday, Sept. 6th. Memorial Park, Cope, Washington County. Andrew and I visited a playground that was a fascinating relict from the 1970s. If this were Boulder, the existence of that OSHA-noncompliant playground would trigger a class action lawsuit within minutes. While Andrew spun around on the thrilling and unsafe merry-go-round, I worked the pines and found 2 Red-breasted Nuthatches and thousands of sapsucker wells. I whistled at and pished in the nuthatches, and they got super-close, and I tried to get one to land on my finger, and it almost did, but, instead, it hovered a few inches above and defecated on my middle finger on my right hand. Then Bryan and Bill showed up, and then we all left. Monday, Sept. 6th. The pit at Last Chance, Washington County. Andrew, Bill, Bryan, and I were joined by four other birders, but then the party was quickly broken up by the news of the Long-tailed Jaeger at Cherry Creek. And that, as they say, was that. Monday, Sept. 6th. Prince Lake No. 2, Boulder County. It will interest some Boulder County birders to know that the water is way down here, with lots of mudflat. I think this is a very recent development, and I believe the shorebirds haven't yet discovered the newly favorable conditions. Andrew and I saw 2 Least Sandpipers here, plus some Killdeer and Spotted Sandpipers. Also 4 Snowy Egrets. There were gulls, too, including Franklin's Gull and a surprising Herring Gull. Tuesday, Sept. 7th. Greenlee Preserve, Boulder County. In the 3am hour, well...you'll never guess what Andrew and I were doing! That's right, we listened to Wilson's Warblers, Yellow Warblers, and Chipping Sparrows migrating through the smoky skies above Lafayette. ------------------------------- Ted Floyd Editor, Birding Follow Birding magazine on Twitter: http://twitter.com/BirdingMagazine ------------------------------- -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group. 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