Greetings All,
Jackson Reservoir was a stunning experience today, yielding 101 species and nearly 20,000 indviduals. The shorebird list was 17, headed by 2 AMERICAN GOLDEN-PLOVERS not far from the outflow channel. Among the 4000 or so Franklin's Gulls (nearly all adults), I was able to detect a juv SABINE'S GULL. There was also an adult LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL, my first of the fall. The woods were full of small pockets of passerines and other landbirds. Rarities included 2 CHESTNUT-SIDED WARBLERS and an AMERICAN REDSTART. There was also a Least Flycatcher, Red-naped Sapsucker, 2 Green-tailed Towhees, and >40 Townsend's Warblers! One was almost certainly a hybrid, but it skeedaddled and would not come back. Its underparts were nearly entirely white, except a small oval of faint yellow at the lower chest/upper belly. The streaking was extra heavy at sides of chest, so not typical for Hermit x Townsend's, leaving me baffled. The face was so typical for a Townsend's that I wonder about a BT Green x Townsend's but that bird will remain a mystery. It would have been easy to have spent the entire day there. Prewitt Reservoir is dead. The water has receded so much that the remaining flats are of a substrate not conducive to shorebird food, and few were present, the only one of interest being a Black-bellied Plover. Passerines were essentially totally absent, except at the small pocket of Russian Olives and Black Locust near the caretaker's house (in Washington County, pkg lot nearest Logan County). There, a BLACKPOLL WARBLER brightened the scene, among a handful of Townsend's (of course). There is a farm on your left just where you turn for the Logan County end of Prewitt. This farm is very birdy (must be a lot of water around) and there were > 100 Barn Swallows, a Tree Swallow, and a most interesting Clifford type Swallow. Its a very fresh juv with adult like plumage (no weird patches of white on throat, etc). It is hard to place this bird as one of our normal Cliff Swallows, but it doesn't fit Cave well either. I suspect that it is either the "Mexican" race of Cliff Swallow or a (per Tony L's suggestion) perhaps a Cave x Cliff (YIKES!!). However, the photos haven't been offloaded from my camera, and this may just be a weird juv Cliff of the normal race.. we shall see. Finally, at Akron Golf Course, there were not many birds, but there was a nice TENNESEE WARBLER. Good Birding Steven Mlodinow Longmont CO -- 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 https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
