Hello, Birders. The other day, I received in the mail the spring 2014 issue (vol. 48, no. 2) of CFO's quarterly journal, Colorado Birds. Alas, my copy's already been permanently borrowed. Well, it's nice to know that someone else is enjoying mine. I did have a chance to look it over just a bit, and the content of CB 48/2 is excellent. I especially liked articles by Steve Mlodinow and coauthors on a Black-throated Green x Townsend's Warbler hybrid in Colorado, by Steve Mlodinow on Colorado's multiple taxa (and possibly multiple species!) of White-breasted Nuthatches, and by Wanda Sowa and coauthors on Colorado's urban Cliff Swallows. I didn't get around to reading David Leatherman's article on crayfish. A pity. I'm sure it was wonderful. And I'm sure the thief is learning all sorts of cool and mildly bizarre things about crayfish. Doug Faulkner and colleagues have a great Colorado Bird Records Committee report in this issue, highlighted by the news that the Colorado state list is now within spitting distance of 500. Recent additions (Cave Swallow, Mottled Duck, Hoary Redpoll) put the list at 498. In the "Conversations" column, Nick Komar says many intriguing things. For example, Nick predicts the next 5 new species for Colorado. He also says that his favorite place in Colorado is Beebe Draw, that it reminds him of birding coastal Texas. I confess: Until this past Saturday, April 12th, I'd never been there. Joe Roller rectified the situation. He forcibly conscripted me (with Lisa Edwards and David Gillilan) for an exploration of the Greater Beebe area (so, incl. Loloff and Latham), and the place was, indeed, reminiscent of coastal Texas: flat, wet, and with tremendous numbers of birds. We saw 100+ avocets and 20+ stilts; an early Wilson's Phalarope and some yellowlegs; flocks of Franklin's Gulls; a marsh full of Marsh Wrens; Great-tailed Grackles and Yellow-headed Blackbirds everywhere; 2 Greater Scaup, 200+ Lesser Scaup, and hundreds of other ducks; a squawking pheasant; a few American White Pelicans; our FOS Swainson's Hawk; alternate-plumage California Gulls doing their "poor man's Lesser Black-backed Gull" thing; a Vesper Sparrow; and a lot more. We had a CFO board of directors meeting to get to (see Bill Kaempfer's post from Saturday evening), so we had to cut things short--but not first without a pass by "The Narrows," one of Joe Roller's Morgan County watering holes. Here we flushed a covey of 9 Northern Bobwhites and saw a Yellow-shafted Flicker and a little kettle of Turkey Vultures. We also heard an Eastern Bluebird flying over, and another pheasant. According to eBird, this was my first visit to Morgan County in nearly 5.5 years. Back for a brief moment to Colorado Birds. All CFO members receive the journal. Join CFO and get Colorado Birds: http://cfobirds.org/business/contribute.php Ted Floyd Lafayette, Boulder County, Colorado
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