According to those who visited and camped at Crow Valley this past weekend, it was much less birdy today by comparison, but still held an impressive array of species and numbers of individuals. The following are highlights from what I saw, and a few observations from the several other birders present today:
Western Kingbirds, Brown Thrashers, Northern Mockingbirds, Gray Catbirds, and House Wrens are back in force. Orioles, both Bullock's and Orchard, are just arriving. No grosbeaks or buntings that I saw or heard about. Towhees (an amazing number of both Spotted and Green-tailed, I'd say 20 and 10, respectively). Gayle Campbell (who grew up in Atlanta) reported seeing a female Eastern Towhee over the weekend, which none of us could refind. Gray Flycatcher (1) on the east fence of the softball field north of the eastmost outhouse Swainson's Hawk (1 adult and 1 juvenile - seemed very early to be seeing a fledged young of the year) Loggerhead Shrike (at least 5, including one in the Briggsdale Cemetery holding the wiggling tail of a lizard (the tail appeared shiny like a skink but neither of Colorado's two skink species are supposed to be on the Pawnee - most likely suspect is Lesser Earless Lizard. Rachel Hopper got a photo, so maybe we can figure it out.) Yellow-breasted Chat (1) along the south fence line south of the Main Picnic Shelter area HOODED WARBLER (1 male shown to me in the early AM by Gayle Campbell and Chuck Lowery near one of the first campsites west of the Main Picnic Shelter. Nobody seemed to be seeing this bird when I left in early afternoon. The female Hooded Warbler which has been present (I forget who first found it) was seen over the weekend and this morning midway along the south fenceline by Rachel.) White-throated Sparrow (at least 3, maybe 5 or more) - mostly in the grass near the Main Picnic Shelter and along the west fenceline Veery (1, most likely "western") in the southwest corner and along the west dry creekbed Northern Waterthrush (1 found by Rachel in the dry creekbed in the northwest corner) Hermit Thrush (1) - not sure what subspecies but probably "interior west", as the tail did not strongly contrast with the back Rock Wren (3) along the Mourning Dove Trail area out north of the main campground, somewhat unusual for Crow Valley Eastern Screech-Owl (1 gray) in the same 20-foot broken trunk snag it has been in the last two summers southwest of the Main Picnic Shelter Cassin's Kingbird (1 seen on Highway 14 east of Briggsdale near milepost 160, and 2 seen just south of the southwest corner of the campground) Lark Bunting (large numbers moving across the grasslands today - one group of about 50-75, mostly males, were in a large flowering cottonwood west of the campground and at about 10am they launched into a loud chorus of song that was quite impressive for its synchrony of start-up and finish, and volume) Orchard Oriole (1 male) near the Main Picnic Shelter, FOS FIELD SPARROW (1 western) singing in the Briggsdale Cemetery, in with zillions of singing Clay-coloreds and Brewer's. This bird was found by Chuck Lowery and Gayle Campbell who were nice enough to tip us off to its presence. Once I finally "cut the song out of the herd" and located the bird, it tended to stay in the interior of elms and junipers and did NOT sit out on the exterior of tree crowns on dead branches like the other sparrows tended to do. Total of 54 species for Crow Valley, which is a lot of species for such a small area on a day that seemed like a "move on north" kind of day. Lastly, Linda and Walt Knudsen of Denver told me about a Lewis's Woodpecker they found this morning in the conifer planting at the junction of SR14 and CR57. On my way home from Crow Valley I stopped and saw this bird with the Knudsens in the tallest ponderosa pine of the clump of pines at the east end of this planting. The bird was VERY hard to see up against the trunk about 1/3 of the way down the trunk. Best viewing is from the north side of the planting (park on the side of CR57 just north of SR14). This is an unusual bird for Weld County and the Knudsens are to be commended for spotting this bird. I guess this morning when they drove past, the pink chest of the bird actually caught Linda's eye! Dave Leatherman Fort Collins --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ 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 [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.as/group/cobirds?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
