Today I visited some of the spots where I will return with a field trip next weekend. There were some interesting birds, that's for sure, but it certainly can be different from year to year!
Red Lion SWA off US 138 in extreme eastern Logan County was full of water-perhaps too much (but that will be a theme here). Even in the evaporative ponds along CR 95 the water was up to the grass leaving little shore for shorebirds. However there were Cattle Egrets, lots of Cattle Egrets, I counted over 75 in one group, all together there were more than 100. Plus at least a dozen of them were in the tradition perch-atop a cow! Pretty neat. Jumbo had a bit of shore, at least, but it wasn't teaming with shorebirds. Probably between 6-10 common species were present. But you might think I was filing a mid-winter report: "Jumbo: almost full with Common Loons and Snow Geese present"! There were also 4 digits of Franklin's Gulls-there must have been a Laughing somewhere but I couldn't find it. There was a single recently fledged Boneparte's Gull present that wished it wasn't-the Franklin's that took notice of it were merciless. It turns out that there were six herons/egrets present, but I only saw five-Cattle, Great Blue, Black Crowned Night-, Snowy and Great, but Mark Peterson let me know that he also noted a Yellow Crowned Night-heron. (I'll look harder next week). At Tamarack SWA I limited myself to units 6 and 7. 6, which is usually good for "red" woodpeckers was still, but 7 had a lot of birds at the road end of the hedgerow-2-4 redstarts, a pair of Baltimore Orioles and a fledging Northern Cardinal. Finally Prewitt-alas it is 101% full. What is probably about the best fall shorebird spot in the state has zero as we try to keep those thirsty Kansasans and Nebraskans in check. Bill Kaempfer Back in Boulder --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Colorado Field Ornithologists: http://www.cfo-link.org/ 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 -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
