Birders, In addition to the Colorado's terrific Breeding Bird Atlas and eBird, another good source for predicting potential breeding habitats for Colorado birds is the Colorado Gap Analysis Land Cover Maps, created by an analysis of Landsat imagery.
While the Gap analysis vertebrate maps are a little too broadly modeled to be useful for breeding birds, the predicted land cover vegetation maps are quite useful, especially the Graminoids (grasses) and Forbs (non-woody plants). This shows up nicely for tall and mid-grass prairies in Elbert and El Paso Counties, matching up nicely with the uplift and resulting higher moisture levels of the Palmer Divide (the natural boundary between the Platte and Arkansas River drainages). Along with a fair amount of ranches in Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) enrollment, these counties have habitat suitable for mid- and tall-grass bird species. In 2008, a small population of Chestnut-collared Longspurs were discovered breeding in mid-grass prairie east of Calhan Highway along Judge Orr Road in El Paso. A Baird's Sparrow was also observed here singing in planted CRP grasses, but was considered migratory as additional visits failed to turn up this individual after it was first observed in mid-May. The continued rainfall pattern will make these areas worth searching next spring. Elbert County will be a good destination too. Finding breeding Baird's Sparrows would be a long shot, but a worthy coup. :) Link to the Gap Analysis: http://ndis1.nrel.colostate.edu/cogap/veggapfrm.html Good Birding! Scott E. Severs Longmont, 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/CAL-OjWOti1xR9XYxO8v9Pnro8RNVe%3Dy1BaenmeaY6e83Lb23-g%40mail.gmail.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
