Hello, Birders. I've been picking up on COBirds, on eBird, and in "real" conversations with live birders a flurry of recent reports of Red-necked Phalaropes--unusually high numbers as well as unusual locations for the species. Well, Hannah and I got in on the action during the drive back from Grand Junction on Sunday afternoon, May 22nd. We stopped off at the southwest arm of Dillon Reservoir (access through the town of Frisco), Summit County, where we saw 4 Red-necked Phalaropes wending their way amid the ice floes--just as if they were on the shores of the Arctic Ocean. The official checklist of the birds of Summit County, courtesy of CFO's "Colorado County Birding" website, lists no previous records of the species for the county, but that's not quite right: I'm told the Such bros. and their entourage found Red-necked Phalaropes somewhere in Summit County during the past week. Anyhow, it was cool to see those birds up there. I should mention, by the way, that the southwest corner of Dillon Reservoir was decidedly birdy. Although we spent just a few minutes there, we saw several other shorebird species, a lot of ducks, pipits, etc. Might well be worth keeping an eye on the next week or so.
A few other odds and ends from Sunday: 1. Western Screech-Owl was super-easy for us at Connected Lakes State Park, Mesa County, at first light. We just pulled into the parking area, whistled a few feeble imitations, and almost instantly had the little buggers going like crazy. And I was thrilled to add Indian Peafowl to my Mesa County list. (Hannah and others had nabbed it the day before, during the "Slacker Trip," but I was, well, slacking off at the time.) 2. Colorado National Monument, Mesa County. What a beautiful site! Gotta love a place where you can pick up Gray Vireo before even getting out of the car. Black-throated Sparrows were everywhere, and we heard and saw a Black-throated Gray Warbler. Of special note was a Scott's Oriole that we saw along Monument Road about 2 miles before the park entrance. If you want to try for the bird, here's a map that shows where to park (stickpin) and where we saw the bird (blue polygon): http://tinyurl.com/3ecydlm. I'm aware, by the way, that other birders found Scott's Oriole on Sunday at, if I recall correctly, the somewhat more expected locale of Baxter Pass, Garfield County. 3. Bair Ranch Rest Area, I-70, Garfield County. Nothing of great note here, but I'll point out that this spot sure seems to pull in migrants. Here we found Gray Catbird, Lincoln's Sparrow, Dusky Flycatcher Lazuli Bunting, Virginia's Warbler, Audubon's Warbler, and a great many Chipping Sparrows and Pine Siskins. And on Friday afternoon, May 20th, on the way to Grand Junction, this site produced Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Orange-crowned Warbler, 15 flyover White-faced Ibises, Bank Swallow, Western Kingbird, and several Western Tanagers. ------------------------------- Ted Floyd Editor, Birding Blog: http://tinyurl.com/4n6qswt Twitter: http://tinyurl.com/2ejzlzv Facebook: http://tinyurl.com/2wkvwxs ------------------------------- -- 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.
