I birded a little in the Higbee area south of La Junta yesterday. I was surprised to find a small flock of Cassin's Finch and at least 1 Lesser Goldfinch among the hundreds of American Goldfinch feasting on the tender buds of deciduous trees in the Purgatory River bottom area near Higbee. There were a good number of White-crowned Sparrows in the weedy sides along the roads and a pair of Eastern Bluebirds on telephone wires. Also in that area were at least 2 Chihuahuan Ravens.
At quick visit to Lake Cheraw produced only 1 Snowy Plover and no other visible shorebirds. There is limited shoreline and few mudflats due to the unusually high water level. This modified playa is not an 'active' reservoir as it has extremely saline content so irrigation companies do not store water in it as they do in most other plains reservoirs and there has not been any appreciable rain water so not sure why the level has increased substantially. I did see 5 Black-necked Stilts in addition to dozens of American Avocets transitioning to breeding (Alternate) plumage. Though there were common waterfowl on the lake, the numbers were not as high as usual. I saw 4+ Burrowing Owls in several locations around Otero County including a pair perched together on a prairie-dog burrow. The light was poor by the time I stopped at Lake Holbrook. I did see a number of American Avocets and there were shorebirds including yellowlegs along the shore but no egrets or herons. SeEtta Moss Canon City http://BirdsAndNature.blogspot.com -- 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.
