COBirders, First, thank you to Steve and Tim for the great find and getting the word out of the COMMON GROUND-DOVE. Brad Steger and I started at this location at about 6:20AM and around 6:40AM Brad found the bird along the two track that is on the east side of hwy 385. See the URL I will provide later for a map of the area and a pinpoint location of where the bird like to hang out today. The other nice bird at his was a RUSTY BLACKBIRD that Brad flushed literally right before he found the Dove.
Between Julesburg and Ovid along county road 28 we found three HARRIS'S SPARROWs in a field that also had what may have been as many as 200 AMERICAN TREE SPARROWs. Although we probably only saw about 100 or so Sparrows here as we watched the tall grass that extended south from the road a long ways we would see Sparrows popping up and then going back down. See URL for location. We were now in Ovid where we worked Ovid woods and spent over an hour on a single bird. We had a "stub-tailed" Wren at this location. We both feel that it sounds much like we believe Pacific Wren sounds (Wilson's Warbler like) and although it is not a real dark looking bird its colors are fairly uniform through the throat and belly area. I will be getting some photos out to a few people for review along with a short video clip. The location was between the two bridges at Ovid Woods. See URL for location. There was also a Red-bellied Woodpecker at this location. About six miles west of the town Sedgwick on county road 28 we stopped at a grove of trees that lie on the north side of the road. There were many American Robins here that got our attention. As we watched from the road we had an "eastern race" BLUE-GRAY GNATCATCHER. Then Brad said he thought he heard a EASTERN TOWHEE and about a minute or two later we finally got good looks at a female Eastern Towhee. Finally, we made it to Jumbo Reservoir. Apparently a little turnover from yesterday. Unfortunately, the Trumpeter Swan was nowhere to be found while we were there nor where the Greater Scaup (certainly would be easy to miss these). We had a single LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL (2nd cycle) in Sedwick, two THAYER'S GULLs (adult, 1st cycle) the youngster was in Sedgwick and the adult was somewhere near the county line, not sure which county it was in. We had very similar numbers of white geese plus a single GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE in with the CACKLING and CANADAs. In addition to things that Steve and Tim reported yesterday we had a single PACIFIC LOON on the Logan side and a single RED-NECKED GREBE on the Sedgwick side. Too many sides to this lake. At Little Jumbo we had a single GREATER YELLOWLEGS and 20+ BONAPARTE'S GULLs. We really did not bird here much so easily could have missed some stuff. Next was Haxtun elementary/middle school, which was packed with American Robins and CEDAR WAXWINGS. There were also three HARRIS'S SPARROWs at this location. NOTE: These birds would not be "chaseable" during school hours. Nothing else in what little we did in town. But just east of town near the Haxtun sewer ponds we had 250+ LAPLAND LONGSPURs. The sewer ponds themselves held a whopping TWO birds, RUDDY DUCKs. Next we poked around the town of Holyoke and had the most unexpected bird of the day right in town near the park that is on the south edge of town. Feeding at the top of a spruce there was a RED CROSSBILL, this was not so unexpected as I have seen Red Crossbill in this exact tree before. But the next thing I know, Brad is calling out WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILL. There were six total Crossbills but only two were visible until they flew. Both were female types and one of each species. The other four went unidentified as they all flew and we could not re-find them. I think these birds will be around for a little while, it is just a matter of finding them. There are a number of large spruces in town with a lot of cones. If you search for these birds I would just look for the spruces. Also, the cemetery that is on the southeast side of town could be a place to find these birds as I have had Red Crossbills there before in the pines and spruces. Our last stop of the day was Bonny Reservoir. The water has come down a lot since I was last there in October. Three BONAPARTE'S GULLs were nice and nine HOODED MERGANSERs. Still a handful of WESTERN GREBEs and RING-BILLED GULLS. About 20 GREAT BLUE HERONs on the west end. Then there were about 10,000 MALLARDS. At the end of the road that goes west from the "old" visitor's center we had (the sun had just set): two NORTHERN CARDINALs, five GREAT-TAILED GRACKLES, one BLACK-CAPPED CHICKADEE, one FIELD SPARROW (looked like a western bird), one GRAY CATBIRD and a flyover calling WILSON'S SNIPE (headed south). As we were at this location we could here thousands of white geese coming into the reservoir. Hopefully I did not forget anything. I made a Google Map of some of the above birds that were at semi-random locations. Thanks again to Steve and Tim for the great find! <http://g.co/maps/6a64w> ----- Mark Peterson Colorado Springs -- 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.
