Hi all,
Van Truan and I, and his two young sons (not birders), did a Big Day on
Saturday, 8 May in Pueblo County. We wanted to see if we could beat our own
Pueblo County Big Day record of 156 species several years ago. We were
successful in finding 167 species of birds in Pueblo County on Saturday. We
didn't see anything really rare, maybe our best birds were Common Loon, Gray
Flycatcher, Least Flycatcher, Northern Waterthrush, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, and
Pine Grosbeak. We did well with several bird families: 16 species of
waterfowl, 11 species of shorebirds, 7 species of owls and nightjars, 7 species
of woodpeckers, 13 species of flycatchers, 9 species of warblers, and 9 species
of native sparrows.
We started at midnight in the eastern part of the county, trying to find
rails. It was very windy, and we heard one species. Then we headed west to
the foothills and mountains to try our luck with owls and nightjars, luckily it
wasn't windy, and a few were calling. Sunrise was up at Lake Isabel in the
mountains, where it was very cold, like it the high 20s probably. Then we
drove a good mountain road, on the way to Rye and Colorado City, where we
picked up most of the mountain birds. Rye and Colorado City added quite a few
birds. Then we drove some more dirt roads though the pinyon juniper, and added
several more birds. Then to Pueblo, where each stop produced birds we hadn't
seen yet. Then off to Huerfano Reservoir in the eastern part of the county,
where several late ducks and more shorebirds were present. We then checked out
dirt roads near the Huerfano River, and added a more species. We got back to
Pueblo in time to find Chimney
Swifts, and a couple staked out birds in Van's backyard. We missed quite a
few species, that maybe we should have seen, though we were happy with our
results.
There were quite a rare birds found in Pueblo County on Saturday, during the
Pueblo County Spring Migration Count, though we didn't really seen any of
them. According to Dave Silverman, the county wide total for bird species
counted in Pueblo County by all parties on Saturday, May 8, 2010, was a new
record of 202 species!!
Good birding,
Brandon Percival
Pueblo West, CO
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