Visited the BEST place "in Colorado" (okay near) to see Chestnut-
collared Longspurs--Chalk Bluff Road, WY. It is three miles north of
CO-WY border along Hwy 85 out of Nunn. It is on your east and runs
about 20 miles. Pristine tall grass for most part (WY State Land
Trust on north; large (but few ranches on south)). Most birds were in
fields displaying; I only had one on fenceline as I was leaving--think
the nest was about 5 feet from fence.
Chestnut-collared Longspur - two dozen at least (pix, video)
McCown's Longspur - 8 (including two fledglings on road-half the size
of adult)
Grasshopper Sparrow - 16+
Cassin's Sparrow - 4 (two videos singing on fenceline)
Lots of Lark Buntings-including albino (blurry photo), Horned larks
and Western Meadowlarks
Best tactic is "drive slow"-listen and watch for birds displaying; I
stopped every .3M for first four miles (turned off car); when you turn
north at 8.0m there is water and I saw at least half-dozen longspurs
here; about a mile north and road continues east for about 8 miles
(drive slowly).
The only negative experience was oil company doing seismic testing for
oil ("extension cords" and meters (I guess) all along road)
Fall is even better (and confusing-haha) when all the fledglings come
out.
Thanks
Gary Lefko/Nunn
http://coloradobirder.ning.com/ -- Home of the "Nunn Guy"
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