Hello, Birders. Andrew and I crossed the tracks, so to speak, this morning and poked around various Weld County spots. Here's what we came up with:
Pawnee National Grassland at dawn. Beautiful. First we saw 3 BURROWING OWLS west of CR-61 at 40.655346 N, 104.487534 W. Next up was a dandy MOUNTAIN PLOVER south of CR-96 at 40.682363 N, 104.445541 W. Working our way east along CR-96, we saw McCOWN'S LONGSPURS pretty much constantly for the next 3 miles. We had a couple of "probables," and then the real deal on a handsome CHESTNUT-COLLARED LONGSPUR along CR-96 at 40.683437 N, 104.366298 W. LARK BUNTINGS were pretty much everywhere, and we had a low-flying PRAIRIE FALCON at one point. Something else: Ever ambitious, Andrew took it upon himself to count all the cacti along CR-96. He tells me he stopped at 99 million. Crow Valley Campground. We bumped into Bob Righter, who put us onto a nice LONG-EARED OWL roosting in a juniper. Passerinewise, there seemed to be a fair bit of movement through the campground, but nothing of real note. We found 2 DUSKY FLYCATCHERS, 2 BLUE-GRAY GNATCATCHERS, 1 RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET, 1 HERMIT THRUSH, 5 ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLERS, 7 MYRTLE WARBLERS, a goodly 5 GREEN-TAILED TOWHEES, 4 LINCOLN'S SPARROWS, ~20 WHITE-CROWNED SPARROWS (gambelii to oriantha ratio was about 3 to 1), and 2 PINE SISKINS. Breeders included 3 WESTERN KINGBIRDS, 3 LOGGERHEAD SHRIKES, 2 HOUSE WRENS, 2 NORTHERN MOCKINGBIRDS, and a nice count of 9 BROWN THRASHERS. Black Hollow Reservoir. We scoped from the southern part of the bulge in CR-19, at 40.608381 N, 104.888234 W. Here we saw a decent variety of shorebirds, highlighted by 8 WHIMBRELS. Also present were 1 SEMIPALMATED PLOVER, 2 MARBLED GODWITS, 7 LONG-BILLED DOWITCHERS, some BAIRD'S SANDPIPERS amid otherwise unidentified peeps, and a smattering of yellowlegs. Plus WOOD DUCK, GREAT-TAILED GRACKLE, and others. Neat place, and quite birdy. Wish there were better access. Next we drove right past Windsor Reservoir without stopping, oblivious to what Steve Mlodinow had reported there earlier. One of these days, I'll invest in one of those COBirds brain implants that some birders are now equipped with... Union Reservoir. On noting the very high water, nasty heat waves, and many boats, we just bailed. On the way out, though, we paused to glance at the tiny pond north of CR-28. There we saw a dopey-looking WHIMBREL standing at 40.194155 N, 105.050476 W. So close, so teasingly close, to blessed Boulder County. (Seriously, Boulderites might do well to look for Whimbrels, the next 24 hours, at such places as McIntosh Lake or Ish Reservoir.) Also here were several MARSH WRENS and GREAT-TAILED GRACKLES. ------------------------------- Ted Floyd Editor, Birding Blog: http://tinyurl.com/4n6qswt Twitter: http://tinyurl.com/2ejzlzv Facebook: http://tinyurl.com/2wkvwxs ------------------------------- -- 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.com/group/cobirds?hl=en.
