John Vanderpoel and I led a CFO/Boulder Bird Club field trip this past weekend to NE Colorado. Conditions were very hot (97F high on both days) and water levels were high but there wasn't much wind and shore conditions were actually pretty good at N. Sterling State Park, Red Lion SWA and Jumbo Reservoir. We had many interesting birds but few rarities, surprising however was the scarcity of heron, owl, warbler, swallow, blackbird and diving duck species. Our trip list was only 106 compared with upper 120s last year.
We made our first stop on Saturday morning in Ft. Morgan where we met Pete Walker and Bruce Bosley to check out a breeding family of White-winged Doves and Mississippi Kites. We continued on to Prewitt Reservoir where intense insect activity pushed us away from the west inlet canal area. Walking below the dam was more pleasant, it not more successful. We did have a group of gulls and terns along the dam that included at least two Common Terns. Next we continued on to the cemetery in Sterling where we noted that the primary tree seems to be hackberry (with gall covered leaves). Perhaps the ample feeding opportunities gave any rare warblers (like an e-birds reported Golden-winged Warbler) room to hide from us. A real highlight followed in Sterling itself where we had Mississippi Kites over flying Cheairs Park. We heard an unusual, plaintive call that we had also heard near the kites we found in Ft. Morgan and finally realized that it was young kites begging. Several time we had adults come in with insects (grasshoppers on one occasion) to feed the young of which there were at least three in different trees. We took a short break at our motel (have you ever considered a field trip with a pool break before?) and then set out for a late afternoon visit to North Sterling State Park. The west end of this park usually has pretty good shore habitat and so it did this year with lots of Stilt and Baird's Sandpipers and Wilson's Phalaropes along with one Marbled Godwit. Upon exiting the park we had a close encounter with a 4 foot rattlesnake along the road. Todd Deininger tried to make friends, but the rattler would have none of it. Sunday morning we got up and headed off to Tamarack SWA. We wandered around stop 6 for a while which was full of Red-headed Woodpeckers, but most other birds were lurking quietly. I did have a brief glimpse of a Northern Cardinal there. We went back to the through road and stopped at stop 13 which was excellently filled with kingbirds, sparrows (including Field), buntings and our only Townsend's Warbler of the day. Perhaps the best bird of the trip was an amazingly cooperative Gray Flycatcher that kept foraging from the fence along the road between stop 13 and the maintenance shop. Red Lion was our next stop, and a place that had been bone dry three weeks before had lots of water and shorebirds the best of which was a close in Pectoral Sandpiper that all were able to study. Finally on to Jumbo which has great shore right now. If Jumbo gets too low, shorebirds can become inaccessible, but not so right now-there are more than 1,000 shorebirds that can be easily viewed from the roads, dams and campsites. Over all we had 7 Long-billed Curlews (all juvenile in Logan), 4 Willets (Logan and Sedgwick), 4 Sanderlings (Logan and Sedgwick) and 3 Black-bellied Plovers (adults in different stages of disrobing all in Logan). Finally, the SE campground had a pair of Downy Woodpeckers still taking food into a nest cavity. Overall it was a fun trip even without the rarities that can be had out there at this time of year. I do want to thank everyone along for putting up with and helping me cope with my infirmities, but the trip must go on! 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.
