Bird Conservancy of the Rockies has confirmed that Baird's sparrows are actively breeding in Colorado. After several weeks of intensive nest searching and observation, this week Andy Bankert, a field ornithologist at Bird Conservancy, observed an adult Baird’s sparrow carrying food to at least three fledglings in an off-limits area of Soapstone Prairie Natural Area. The fledglings are still fairly young and currently occupy a pasture which has several males singing.
Birders looking to see or hear Baird's sparrows can try for them at the publicly-accessible Jack Springs area. This area is accessed by parking at the south parking lot at Soapstone, walking along the southern portion of the Pronghorn Trail, then going south once reaching the Plover Trail to where the trail passes through a gate near an area of taller grass. Bird Conservancy of the Rockies banded four birds in this area this spring; the banded birds have since moved on, however there are now two unbanded birds singing in this area. Grasslands birds such as the Baird’s sparrow are known to be nomadic even within the breeding season. Please note that Soapstone Prairie Natural Area has an on-trail-only policy. Feel free to direct any questions you may have about this confirmed sighting to the grassland bird monitoring program at Bird Conservancy of the Rockies (Mo Correll, maureen.corr...@birdconservancy.org). Mo Correll Fort Collins, CO maureen.corr...@birdconservancy.org -- 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/4e34a05e-3a81-49b8-ab3f-700fe592738c%40googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
