We had our best turnout ever with 30 persons participating in this years Valley-wide count to celebrate International Migratory Bird Day. Best part was that 16 of those participating were young persons aged 6 to 16. Great to see them have interest in birds and hope this trend continues....
Even with all that help, our species count was down, at 138 species. About 152 is our average. We attribute this number to a late cold spring, late migration and also to the horrendous winds we had in the pm. Best birds were Lewis's Woodpecker, Northern Waterthrush, American Bittern, Burrowing Owl and 5 species of plovers...Black-bellied, Semi-palmated, Snowy, Mountain and Killdeer. Sometimes it's what you don't count that deserves attention. In 2002, we counted 24 Ring-necked Pheasants. This year we counted none. The decline in pheasants has been a subject of debate and may be due to changes in agricultural practices, predators, drought, or nesting conditions. John Rawinski Count Organizer and Volunteer -- 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 For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/cobirds?hl=en?hl=en
