I birded Crow Valley campground, the Pawnee Grasslands, Lower Latham, and Beebe Draw today.
Sheepishly, I must admit that I hoped to see a Lark Bunting, which never seem easy for me to find. Holy cow. All the Lark Buntings in the world are now at the Pawnee Grasslands. I've never seen so many. I must have seen a few thousand there today. Previously, in my life I think I've seen five before today. They're probably taxing the strength of the barbed wire out there. At one point, I counted 75 Lark Buntings sitting on one smallish stretch of fencing. Other good birds in the Grassland area: juvenile Brown Thrashers and busily engaged Orchard Orioles at Crow Valley. Also, one very noisy daytime-flying Nighthawk (a "dayhawk?") flying over the campground at noon. The Dyer's farm at 14 & 51st had 10 Burrowing Owls in their front-yard pasture. (Careful: this is private property; please respect it and bird carefully from the road.) I did see a few Cassin's Sparrows, but never heard their call or saw them larking. Perhaps it's too late in the season or I was there too late in the day. Nevertheless, the Cassin's Sparrows are there if you look. I also found two McGowan's Longspurs, but no Chestnut-Collareds. The best birds (by my estimation) were at Lower Latham, where the shorebirds abounded. There were dozens of American Avocets, several Black-necked Stilts, heaps of Wilson's Phalaropes, a dozen White-faced Ibises, dozens of Least Sandpipers, several Lesser Yellowlegs (no Greaters, that I could find) and a handful of larger peeps with black legs. I believe there were two Baird's Sandpipers and one White-rumped Sandpiper, although I lack confidence identifying these "larger" black-legged peeps. Also at Lower Latham were several very vocal Virginia Rails, Soras, and Marsh Wrens. I saw many female and juvenile Yellow-headed Blackbirds, but strangely I saw no males. Cheers, Richard Richard Trinkner AP History and Economics Boulder High School 1604 Arapahoe Ave Boulder, CO 80302 mobile: 720-938-5950 --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Colorado County Birding: http://www.coloradocountybirding.com/ 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 -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
