On Sunday March 27,2011 Mark Peterson led a Denver Field Ornithologists group to search for spring birds at the south end of I-25 in Trinidad, Colorado. Mark is the top active birder of Las Animas County, and knew all the special spots. Richard Prickett, Bruce Neuman, Ed Holub, Tim Smart, Lynne Miller, Lisa Edwards, Tom Bunker, and I met Mark at 8 AM outside Trinidad on this sunny, cold, windy Sunday. which felt more like winter than spring, but it warmed up quickly. Our first stop was the very breezy Trinidad Lake State Park where we saw: Evening Grosbeak, Cedar Waxwing, Dark-eyed Junco Pine Siskin Common Loon, Green-winged Teal, Cinnamon Teal Bufflehead, Ringed-bill Gull Savannah Sparrow, Western Bluebird, Osprey, American Crow Mountain Chickadee Cassin’s Finch and heard a Juniper Titmouse. The wind was challenging, but it calmed down later.
We then drove east of town to sagebrush territory, ranchland, and a private reservoir near CR 48 and CR 101 that Mark had scouted the day before, obtaining permission. We saw: Horned Lark Sandhill Crane, American Avocet Canvasback, Gadwall, Blue-winged Teal, Common and Hooded Mergansers, American Coot, Great Blue Heron, Plegadis Ibis, Ruddy Duck, Western Grebe, Redhead, Lesser Scaup Mallard, American Wigeon Double-crested Cormorant Pied-billed Grebe Northern Harrier. We stopped for a brief lunch-on-the-run at the reservoir, with miles to go and birding our top priority. The scenery was spectacular all day with Fisher’s Peak looming south of us on the New Mexico border, and the snow-clad Spanish Peaks northwest of us. We crossed the Purgatoire River at a couple of locations, seeing Black Phoebe both bridges, as well as Wood Duck, Virginia Rail, Killdeer, and a Great Blue Heron on nest at either bridge. Other birds to round out the day were: Northern Pintail American Kestrel Red-tailed Hawk Turkey Vulture 2nd year Bald Eagle Scaled Quail, covey of about 15 trying to cross the road right up to our vehicles Common Raven (1) Chihuahuan Raven (many) Downy Woodpecker Say’s Phoebe Red-winged blackbird White-breasted Nuthatch Western Meadowlark Rock Pigeon, European Starling, House Finch, House Sparrow, Northern Flicker Thank you, Mark, for squeezing as much spring as possible for us out of a late March day. A good time was had by all. Here are 15 pics of the trip, with a few from the Colorado Springs area that I took Saturday on the way down, including a Harris’s Sparrow at Fountain Creek Nature Center feeder. http://twilberding.zenfolio.com/p755972289 Good birding, Tom Wilberding -- 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.
