Dear Cobirders,
Following Christian's directions, Maggie Boswell, Peter Gent and I
were able to relocate the flock of McCown's Longspurs along the
Coalton Trail in Boulder County this afternoon. The Longspurs were in
the grass immediately north of the southern parking lot for the
Coalton Trail often flushing with a mixed flock of Horned Larks and
Vesper Sparrows. On the way back home, I stopped by Dowdy Draw hoping
to dig up some more migrating grassland birds. The hike out was
uneventful with only 5 total individual birds (American Robins and
American Goldfinches). On the hike back, I stopped near the parking
lot and observered a Sparrow sized passerine (> 5" but < 7" in length)
with an eyering, cinnamon buff breast and belly with no streaking, and
a red patch on the center of the back reminiscent of Gray-headed Junco
but more diffuse; the remainder of the back was grayish with diffuse
streaking. The tail lacked any white retrices but there was one white
streak along the folded wing (a la Lark Bunting, but thinner). My
initial impression was that it was some Bluebird in an unfortunate
state of molt, but there were at least two of them. They were
perching on low bushes east of the trail and I was able to view them
at close range, but I'm at a loss. While puzzling over this bird, a
Northern Bobwhite began calling from the mesa east of the Dowdy Draw
parking lot.
Cheers,
Walter Szeliga
Boulder, CO
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Colorado Field Ornithologists: http://www.cfo-link.org/
Colorado County Birding: http://www.coloradocountybirding.com/
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