Cobirders,
I did a less-than-thorough inventory of the John Martin Reservoir
Christmas Count Circle on December 13th and 14th, trying to document
Count Week Birds (the Count is December 16th). I mostly focused on
trying to find specialty birds for each segment of the count circle. I
counted 89 species, without focusing much on scoping the lake. I found
two species that would be new for the count circle; two Dunlin on the
west end of the reservoir (photographed) and a female-type Blue
Grosbeak. I had seen this individual a couple of times in late November
in exactly the same location near the junction of the Arkansas and
Purgatoire Rivers, feeding in tall sunflower stalks. I did not expect it
to linger through mid-December. This would be a first Colorado CBC
record of this species.
The CDOW aerial survey of the reservoir estimated 35,000 Snow (and
Ross') Geese on the reservoir late last week, and that's just the tip of
the iceberg. Landbird diversity is better than average, even if the
numbers are below average. If the weather holds, this should be a very
good count.
Duane Nelson
Las Animas, Bent County, CO
--
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.
