John Vanderpoel, Mark Peterson and I undertook a post-CFO Convention Big Day in NE Colorado on Tuesday. Sorry for a somewhat delayed report, but you know what the day-after a big day is like, now multiply that by four days of convention (I think I was birding 60 hours in five days-not a complaint!).
East-to-West vs. West-to-East is always a big day question, and for the past two years we've done the latter only to come crashing down in storms and wind out on the plains by the end of the day. This year we were back to East-to-West and it worked well and allowed us to skip some spots as unlikely to produce additional species by day's end. We started at our motel in Sterling at 3:45 (being too old for a 12-to-12 ordeal) and moved 25 minutes east to Tamarack where there are dark singing sparrows on the grasslands portion south of I-76 and we picked up both Grasshopper and Cassin's Sparrows (4:15). We continued on to the bridge over the flooded Platte were it wasn't too hard to stir up Eastern Screech (4:30) but did not get the Eastern Phoebe that was there as a pair the evening before. At Jumbo the swamp below the dam at the SW corner was not productive, but the one at the SE corner (5am) had Virginia Rail and Sora and then a Burrowing Owl fly by at the prairie dog town around the corner. Moving to the NE corner of Jumbo we missed a Cattle Egret flock that seemed to be settling down there the night before. By 5:30 we were at the Jumbo east campground, but it was disappointingly unproductive for anything other than the expected. Turning back west to the SE dam we had one Sanderling, a couple of Baird's Sandpipers and Common Loon (we counted 6 the night before) at 6:00. The nearby point produced a few good things that can be tough (Franklin's and Ring-billed Gulls, Black Tern and the Cattle Egrets that we thought that we had missed). Our next stop is fast becoming one of my favorites in the Jumbo/Red Lion area-the hedge row just south of the reservoir along the county line road (and no, it's not just because it lies right on the county line, but that's a nice plus). Barn Owl, Bell's Vireo, Willow Flycatcher, Blue Grosbeak and Eastern Bluebird show why I like this spot (6:30)! Then back to Red Lion in the daylight for White-rumped Sandpiper (I'd say that we say a total of about 30 during the day between Red Lion, Montfort Marsh and Beebe Draw), Snowy Egret and both Short-billed Dowitcher and Upland Sandpiper both calling (6:50). The Lesser Yellowlegs of the night before was not re-found. We then doubled back north to what we call 'White-Ibis-Ponds,' a set of ponds along CR 93 including one not to be overlooked east of 93 back in Red Lion SWA that is distant but that can be scoped from the road. Some interesting ducks were here including Canvasback and Hooded Merganser plus Black-bellied Plover (7:30). (It is possible that there was a Red Knot here, but we left it on the table.) We then drove through Tamarack SWA picking up Northern Mockingbird, Cedar Waxwing, Yellow-breasted Chat and Swainson's Hawk (#100 at 8:05) before turning into another semi-bonanza at stop 6e where we had red birds-Red-headed Woodpecker, Red-bellied Woodpecker and Northern Cardinal (8:25). Stop 7e was not productive with only Wild Turkey. Then a dash back to Sterling where we had a pair of Mississippi Kites carrying nesting material between the two city parks on the south side of town (9:23). The dash continued on CO 14 (with a stop at the escarpment for Rock Wren-check, a pair 9:40). We got to Crow Valley just before 11:00, a little delayed by an unsuccessful try for Mountain Plover. Crow was good for sparrows, Plumbeous Vireo, Black-and-White Warbler and Veery (11:30), then on to Murphy's Pasture for McCown's Longspur and Brewer's Sparrow (12:00). Turning south we headed to a place that we call Montfort Marsh which is 1 mile NE of Loloff Reservoir. Montfort had Ring-necked Duck and Black-necked Stilt and at Loloff a Common Goldeneye (12:55). Lower Latham's American Bittern on parade was still on parade (1:20) and Beebe Draw only added Great Egret and Wilson's Snipe (1:55). St. Vrain State Park might seem an odd place to stop on a big day, but it was our choice for Osprey and Forster's Tern (2:35), but nearby Jim Hamm didn't produce the Bufflehead that it had two days prior. A stop at McCall Lake on the way to Lyons produced both eagles and Bobolink (3:05). Hitting the foothills at Lyons was a real shot in the arm with 22 new species between 3:15 and 4:35, the best being Bushtit, Evening Grosbeak and Pinyon Jay. Then on to Estes Park (5:00) and RMNP (5:30) where we added both sapsuckers, both kinglets, the missing nuthatches and the previously reported American Redstart at the Lake Estes Sanctuary (7:00). Returning after to Big Elk Meadows Road in the dusk after sundown we induced Cordilleran Flycatcher, Green-tailed Towhee and Townsend's Solitaire to sing, then added a Common Poorwill at Apple Valley Road in Lyons to hit a grand total of 180 for the day! Bill Kaempfer Boulder -- 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.com/group/cobirds?hl=en.
