My son Stephen and I went to Park County again on July 15, focusing mostly on the county’s southern edge.
Getting there, a Lewis’s Woodpecker was spotted in Teller Co near the junction of County Road (CR) 1 and CR 11. In Park now, a Gray Flycatcher was in sparse pinyon scrub along CR 71, in the same area where I had one singing on 6/23. A Black-chinned Hummingbird along a drainage there was my first for the county. CR 104 had a Canyon Wren signing on the slope west of the junction with BLM Road 5750, just north of the Fremont line. 4 Virginia’s Warblers were along Road 5750, all in Gambel oak patches (two in Park, 2 in Fremont). A singing Virginia’s was heard along CR 104 about 2 miles north of the others, also in Gambel oaks. This habitat in this area also had the locally-prevalent-but-elsewhere-rare-in-Park Western Scrub-Jay and Spotted Towhee. Red Crossbills were fairly common and detected at varied spots along the roads we traveled. Most were the Type 2 (Ponderosa Pine) form in Ponderosa forest, but some I was unsure of were not Type 2 (these were in forest dominated by Douglas-fir, but with some Ponderosa, too). Pinyon Jays were locally common, especially along CR 71 and at Guffey. And *vis a vis* the recent CoBirds discussion on a paucity of Clark’s Nutcrackers to the north at Rocky Mountain NP, the species is presently numerous throughout forested areas of Park Co…fwiw. We checked Antero Reservoir, which had seemingly very good shorebird habitat (and a frightening lightning storm). There were two Black-necked Stilts along the southwest shore, but otherwise all the shorebirds were American Avocets (plentiful). A Common Loon, likely continuing from June at least) was noted. No ducks of special interest, but Gadwall, Redhead, Lesser Scaup, Common Merganser and Ruddy Duck were noted. A large seasonal pond with emergent vegetation along Trout Creek (viewed from the south end of Redhill road, near Hwy 9 x CR 24) had 6 Ring-necked Ducks, Lesser Scaup, 2 each Blue-winged and Green-winged Teal, and 7 Cinnamon Teal, as well as a family of Ruddy Ducks. Along CR 34 (near the town of Jefferson) I came upon a good-sized natural pond with emergent and submergent vegetation. Here there were 48 Eared Grebe nests, all with sitting birds. Also two 1st summer Franklin’s Gulls (my first in Park since spring migration), Ruddy Duck and American Avocet. I hope the pond retains enough water long enough into the summer for the nesting grebes to be successful. Lastly, many, many families of fledged Western and Mountain Bluebirds made for a happy day. David Suddjian Littleton, CO -- 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. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/CAGj6Rorh90RbaO9J%3D%3DzPFkOHehWs6%2BEGAZWo7cftgcOW1V-JnA%40mail.gmail.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
