Hello, Birders. Hannah and I had a nice time at the 8th annual High Plains Snow Goose Festival, http://tinyurl.com/ybr4bhn, these past few days. Some highlights for us included Ross's Goose, Merlin, Greater Roadrunner, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Bushtit, Carolina Wren, Eastern Bluebird, Northern Mockingbird, American Pipit, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Northern Cardinal, "Rufous-sided" Towhee, White-throated Sparrow, and Pine Siskin. Nice to see hundreds of Mountain Bluebirds on diurnal migration, a few other early returns (Killdeer, Common Grackle), and a decent assortment of the usual specialities "down there" (Ladder-backed Woodpecker, Chihuahuan Raven, Canyon Towhee, etc.). Here's a little more detail: Friday, February 26th. Lake Hasty Campground & vicinity, Bent County. 4750 Snow Geese, 2 Ross's Geese, 1 Hooded Merganser, 7 Bald Eagles, 1 Prairie Falcon, 1 Killdeer, 3 Common Ravens, 2 Mountain Bluebirds, and 6 American Pipits. Kinda slow overall, but it was a beautiful morning, and the geese were glorious. The ravens seemed to be building a nest amid the complex infrastructure of John Martin Dam. The pipits were right along the Arkansas "River." Friday, February 26th. Two Buttes State Wildlife Area, Baca County. With participants in an outing of the High Plains Snow Goose Festival. 1 Rough-legged Hawk, 1 Red-bellied Woodpecker, 2 Chihuahuan Ravens, 1 Rock Wren, 2 Canyon Wrens, 65 Mountain Bluebirds, 1 Townsend's Solitaire, 1 "Rufous-sided" Towhee. We spent almost all of our time down in the "Black Hole," east of the dam. It was, on the whole, exceedingly quiet down there; still, it was a lovely afternoon, with warm temperatures and mainly clear skies. The towhee, seen briefly (and not heard), looked to be partly or maybe even entirely an Eastern Towhee; I'm not certain. Saturday, February 27th. Willow Creek, Lamar, Prowers County. With participants on four short outings of the High Plains Snow Goose Festival. 1 Cooper's Hawk, 2 Red-bellied Woodpeckers, 11 Bushtits, 1 White-breasted Nuthatch, 1 Brown Creeper, 1 Carolina Wren, 16 Cedar Waxwings, 1 Yellow-rumped Warbler, 1 Northern Cardinal, and 2 Pine Siskins. Of interest to me was how much apparent (but presumably not real) turnover there was among the four mini-outings. All of the species in the preceding enumeration were seen by Hannah and me on *only one* of our four expeditions into the woods. Just goes to show that it really pays to work your "patch" repeatedly. Sunday, February 28th. Higbee Valley Road (County Road 804), Otero County. With Pete Dunne. 132 Wild Turkeys, 1 Merlin, 1 Prairie Falcon, 1 Killdeer, 16 Mourning Doves, 1 Greater Roadrunner, 1 Ladder-backed Woodpecker, 25 Common Ravens, 1 raven sp., 2 Rock Wrens, 6 Eastern Bluebirds, 80 Mountain Bluebirds, 2 Townsend's Solitaires, 1 Northern Mockingbird, 12 Canyon Towhees, 1 White-throated Sparrow, and 1 Common Grackle. It was a beautiful morning, raw and chilly, with low overcast. Quite birdy in spots. The roadrunner ran from 37.764795N 103.456074W to 37.764803N 103.456331W, where it hung out for a while. In my experience, Higbee Valley Road is the best place in Colorado to see Greater Roadrunner. All in all, it was a fine weekend in southeastern Colorado. The High Plains Snow Goose Festival is always great fun, and I'm already looking forward to next year's festival. -------------------------------
Ted Floyd Editor, Birding Follow Birding magazine on Twitter: http://twitter.com/BirdingMagazine ------------------------------- _________________________________________________________________ Hotmail: Trusted email with Microsoft’s powerful SPAM protection. http://clk.atdmt.com/GBL/go/201469226/direct/01/ -- 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
