Saturday First stop was the feeder in Limon on Thompson St. An eastern Downy Woodpecker, Dark-eyed Junco and yellow-shafted Northern Flicker were the only birds hanging around. I estimated the flock of Wild Turkeys at around 75 in the neighborhood.
I headed to Higbee Cemetery to look for some of the goodies Dave Leatherman found there last weekend, specifically the Greater Roadrunners. No luck on the roadrunners, but I did manage to phish up the Field Sparrow he found. It was mixed in with a large flock of American Tree Sparrows. I found two very large flocks of Dark-eyed Juncos, two Curve-billed Thrasher, Loggerhead Shrike and quite a few Canyon Towhees. Next stop very windy Baca County. Forgetting to fuel up I had to head into Springfield before adventuring into the Grasslands. This proved fortuitous, before entering Pritchett I stopped to check a small flock of Horned Lark that also had a Chestnut-collared Longspur and heading to Cottonwood Canyon I saw a Prairie Falcon on the leeward side of a roll of hay. Carrizo Creek a Cooper's hawk had no luck trying to take a Belted Kingfisher, the kingfisher headed straight for me and the Cooper's headed the other direction. Walking the county line(?) in Cottonwood Canyon with a large flock of Dark-eyed Junco I managed to find Western Scrub-Jay, Steller's Jay, Canyon and Spotted Towhee, Downy Woodpecker and four Lewis's Woodpecker. Later on down the canyon drive amongst 100s of Mountain Bluebirds I saw a Western Bluebird. In the field across from the bluebirds were three Bighorn Sheep and a herd of White-tailed Deer. Sunday Lacking water fowl In Baca, I headed to Turks Pond. Driving east a dark morph Rough-legged Hawk perched on a pole. Dave told me to be on the lookout for McCown's Longspur, it seemed to be that most of the birds flying off the road were McCown's. Seeing some birds fly off the road that did not seem like Horned Larks or McCown's I stopped the car and it turned out to be a flock of Lapland Longspur. Turks Pond held 4 geese, 4 dabblers, and 6 divers with a lone Greater Scaup was a surprise. A Sharp-shinned Hawk flew over the reeds through my scope view doing its best imitation of a harrier. My original plan after Turks Pond was to head into Las Animas County and spend the rest of the morning there before heading north, but I decided to head back to Higbee Canyon and try to find the roadrunners Dave L had seen last weekend. Good choice. In Bent County on CO 109 I sped by a Greater Roadrunner hanging out on the side of the road. Whipping a U-turn I headed back and it was still on the side of the road. I took a few photos and moved on to Higbee. Next I headed back into Higbee and bam, right across from the cemetery was Greater Roadrunner number two. Never having been to Picket Wire Canyon I ventured that direction where I encountered two odd sightings. The first was at the trail head where a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher teed up on a juniper (?) before ducking out of sight. The second was heading north on CR 5 another large flock of Mountain Bluebirds flew flocked up. Watching them fly I noticed about 30 smaller birds mixed in with them. When they finally landed and I got my bins on them they turned out to be Pine Siskins. Finally I the mountain bluebirds are in SE CO in force. I keep trying to come up with an estimate of the bluebirds I saw and 4500-5000 keeps coming up, but that might be low. Probably around 800 Dark-eyed Juncos. I am not even going to attempt the Horned Larks or the McCown's Longspurs. Oh, I did stop in to see the Snowy Owl in Peyton on the way home. He just happens to be between the high point of Lincoln and Elbert Counties. Todd Deininger Longmont, CO -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds". 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.com/group/cobirds?hl=en?hl=en Visit the CFO Website at: www.cfo-link.org
