Atlasing was the excuse to visit Phillips County yet again. The weather was good except for strong winds, and I found and confirmed many breeding species. It has been rainy out there, so the fields are green and playas are full. Mississippi Kites floated over Holyoke and hunted over the farm fields south of town. Dickcissels were as thick as Rock Pigeons at Trafalgar Square.
The best birds of the day were two female type Hooded Mergansers, seen at a distance by peering over a field of wheat. Bob and Bob (Andrews and Righter) mention only 3 records of this duck east of Morgan County in the summer. Did these birds linger past spring? Any speculation would be appreciated. I was just happy to see them, as Hoodies are difficult to find in Phillips County in any season. The other news is "mark twain at Lake Linfield, aka Peterson's playa." As most everyone knows, Samuel L. Clemens took Mark Twain as his pen name from the call of the steamboat man heaving the lead to measure water depth. The news was good if he called "mark twain," which was a depth of two fathoms, that is, twelve feet, which was a safe depth to float an 1850's Mississippi riverboat. Although the water depth at that playa may not be 12 feet, there is enough water there for the birds, ie, it is about as full as it was a few years ago, before it nearly dried completely. There was water on both the Yuma County and the Phillips County side of Phillips Count road 2, near road 29. I found 6 White-faced Ibis, 7 White-rumped Sandpipers, 8 American Avocets as well as Killdeer, Mallard, Northern Pintail and both Blue-winged and Green-winged Teal, mostly in Phillips County. As the water subsides more mudflats will be exposed, which is propitious for the southbound shorebird migration, which starts next week. Joe Roller -- 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.com/group/cobirds?hl=en.
