Greetings birders - Friday and Saturday, Jeff and I headed down to SE Colorado for a short get-a-way. We lucked out with exceptional weather (moderate temps, light winds) and even found a few decent birds:
Holbrook Reservoir: Partially filled with water. A good assortment of ducks. Lake Cheraw: Shoreline looks good, but other than a small smattering of ducks, not much there on Friday. Higbee Cemetery/Higbee Road: The cemetery was quiet, but the road was fairly birdy. Several miles up close to where the road narrows, we found a pair of Black Phoebes singing and chasing each other about. Vogel Canyon: Pretty much a bird-free zone. Exceptions included the expected Canyon Wren and two Eastern Phoebes. John Martin Dam: We parked on top of the dam and used the vantage point to scope out the east end of the lake as well as Lake Hasty. Large numbers of Double-crested Cormorants in full breeding attire were hanging out with a sizeable flock of American White Pelicans. Flying against the east face of the dam, I was surprised to find four Cliff Swallows - it seemed a bit early. Thurston Reservoir: Saturday morning we ventured to Thurston where a trio of dancing Sandhill Cranes hung out in the cornfields to the south. The mud at Thurston looks great, but alas only a handful of Baird's Sandpipers and a few avocets where sharing the space with the ducks and Killdeer. Lamar CC: This location proved to be fairly quiet. A pair of cardinals continue at the south end along with a very vocal Carolina Wren near the middle. At the south end Dan Maynard and Mark Peterson located a Harris' Sparrow hanging around with a White-crowned Sparrow. In the distance, I could hear a Red-bellied Woodpecker. The resident Wood Ducks have returned. Two Buttes: We headed down to Two Buttes late in the morning recognizing that many of the good birds Mark and Dan found in the morning may well have gone silent. Jeff may have gotten a very brief view of the Golden-crowned Sparrow seen earlier by Mark and Dan. I had decent looks at the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker they also found. We also located a Lesser Goldfinch. There is some water backed up behind the dam. The mud looks decent and produced one Long-billed Dowitcher and a few avocets in addition to the terribly common Killdeer. All in all, we had a great trip puttering around some of our favorite spots in SE Colorado. Good birding, Kathy Mihm Dunning Denver -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to cobirds+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to cobirds@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.