For some reason these posts did not make it to CO-birds so I am including the whole weekend.
Friday after Gunnison we headed to Montrose and on to Ridgeway. A stop at Billy Creek SWA was quiet except for the American Dipper under the bridge. We stopped at the small pond in Ridgeway at the Golden Eagle development and saw Cinnamon Teal, Snowy Egret, and Belted Kingfisher. Next we headed towards Cortez via Rico. A Fox Sparrow surprised us on the west side of town in some willows below the town. The ride to Dolores was uneventful, but the stop at the ponds and McPhee Res. proved fruitful. The ponds hosted Brewer’s Blackbird, Common Grackle, and Brown-headed Cowbird. A small group of eight Bonaparte’s Gull in various was fun to get close looks at. Also on the res. were good looks at comparing Lesser and Greater Scaup . Spending time look at the gulls we had a flyover Broad-tailed Hummingbird and driving out a flyover Peregrine Falcon . Our last stop of the day was Totten Res. to observe Western Grebe doing their mating dance including an exchange of nesting material. Adding to the post about Montezuma Co. today it was great to meet up with Jim Beatty again and to put some faces to a few other west slope birders. Jim, Tom Wilberding and I started today with a trip to Yellowjacket Canyon. If it wasn’t for Jim, Tom and I might still be out there looking for the turn off. Adding to Jim’s post about the canyon’s specialties with saw Bushtits, Dark-eyed Junco (gray-headed), Copper’s Hawk, Loggerhead Shrike, Say’s Phoebe, Rock, Bewick’s and Canyon Wren, Western Bluebird, Gambel’s Quail (heard only) and House Finch. Oops, forgot, we also had Yellow Jackets. Driving out of the Canyon a few Western Kingbird perched on the wires. Picking up my vehicle at the Cortez airport a Bald Eagle was perched in the Ferruginous Hawk tree. >From here we followed Jim to Denny Lake to lunch and have a close listen to >Yellow-headed Blackbird. The lake hosted a number of diving and dabbling >ducks. Here we met Dennis Garrison and his father. They brought up that a >Wood Duck had been hanging out on Thomas Pond for quite awhile, so off we went >in search. On the drive there Jim decided to stop at Totten Res. in hope of >seeing Western and Eared Grebe, which we did, Jim slammed on his brakes (we >were following) and yelled pelican. Looking up expecting to see a large >white bird a large brown bird flew into view. No realizing Jim’s excitement >we hoped back in the cars and met up with Dennis and his father at the lower >parking area to get great views of the previously posted Brown Pelican . While watching and wondering where did this pelican come from a Bald Eagle corralled bunch of American Coot , then dive into them and fly off with one of them. Next stop west side of McPhee Res. to search for the missing water fowl on Tom and my county list. Pulling in we spotted five Marbled Godwit and then twenty more hanging out with a Black-necked Stilt . Watching some Ring-billed Gulls fly in I spotted the previously posted Caspian Tern . We then drove down the shore line in search of more waterfowl. Red-breasted and Common Merganser, Common Loon, Double-crested Cormorant, Common Goldeneye, American Wigeon, Redhead and Green-winged Teal were added to the day. While a flock of White-faced Ibis flew over, Jim received a call about a Snowy Plover ; we moved out for better cell phone reception and came across Dennis, his father and the group that found the plover. Along with the plover were two Least Sandpiper. Our last stop off the day was at Rafter J to search for Acorn Woodpecker. No luck. Heading north to Fruitgrowers Res.tomorrow after a few stops in La Plata Co. Last day of our trip on the West Slope, Tom Wilberding and I started the day at Zink’s Pond south of Durango. Bufflehead was the only diving duck. We were lucky and had views of Marsh Wren, Sora, and Virginia Rail . There were about two hundred Tree Swallows and a few Barn Swallows on the wires and thirty-five White-faced Ibis in the field east of the road. Next we headed north to Silverton to try to get Tom’s twenty to list San Juan Co. We were more than successful. A stop at Coal Bank Pass had a Gray Jay perched in a tree. Feeding on feeders around town were Brown-capped and one Black Rosy-Finch, Cassin’s and House Finch, Pine Siskin, Mourning and Eurasian Collared-Dove, and Evening Grosbeak . Trying to pick up a few more birds we heading east of town to the small ponds for Great Blue Heron, White-faced Ibis, Canada Goose, and Song Sparrow. Looking for more Rosy-Finch in Ouray we found a small flock of Evening Grosbeak in the mini park on the east side of town. We also had the first Mountain Chickadee and Townsend Solitaire of the trip. No Loons at Ridgeway SP, but Eared, Western, and Pied-billed Grebe. Our main stop of the day was Fruit grower’s to look for shore birds. Semi-palmated, Least, and Baird’s Sandpiper, Lesser and Greater Yellowlegs, Long-billed Dowitcher, and Willet were present. White-faced Ibis were on the east shore and a Great Egret came out of nowhere. Dueling Marsh Wrens by the side of the road were fun to watch while both Western and Clark’s Grebe snuck up close to the road for incredible views. Moving on tho the dam to look for Lewis’sWoodpecker, no luck, Tom spotted the Common Loon . While waiting for the loon to surface a Ring-necked Pheasant announced itself. (New trip bird.) Heading to the ponds in Carbondale a Common Merganser was flying up the Crystal River in Pitkin Co. while we were heading down the river. There were three Trumpeter Swans on the ponds at Cerise Ranch (what is the status of these?)and a Pied-billed Grebe . A lone Osprey along I-70 added the last trip bird to bring our total for the long weekend to 142 species. Todd Deininger Longmont, CO --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Join us at the 2009 Convention in Alamosa: http://cfo-link.org/convention/index.php You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group. To post to this group, send email to cobirds@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to cobirds+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.as/group/cobirds?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
