CO Birders : Spent the last three days atlasing in Otero and Las Animas counties south of La Junta and some of the highlights as follows :
Saturday 5/28 : Otero County : Picket Wire Canyon trail to the cemetery , singing first spring Summer Tanager ( coordinates N 38 deg 32' 26" , W 104 deg 27' 56" ) , Orchard Orioles ( family group , adult male , 1 first year male , adult female , ) , both these species in the riparian areas along the Purgatoire River , Black-throated Sparrows , and all of the PJ specialities except Gray Vireo and Scott's Oriole . Sunday 5/29 ; Las Animas County : County Road 177.9 , Reed Canyon , 3-4 Hepatic Tanagers , County Road 177.9 just north of May Ranch , Long-billed Curlew single adult feeding on grasshoppers in the very arid grasslands , County road 177.9 at Villegreen , Ferruginous Hawk with 3 fledglings almost ready to fly although what the adults are finding in the area to feed them is a mystery , dead cows ?? , County Road 197.6 bottom of Long Canyon 2 miles from CO 109 , 2-3 Gray Vireos ( same location described by Duane Nelson as last year ) . Like Duane I am puzzled why the Gray vireos like this location and none of my atlas blocks with very similar habitat. In general all grassland species are scarce because of the severe drought , and PJ species are active early until around 10 AM when they shut up for the rest of the day. John Drummond Monument currently in La Junta. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group. To post to this group, send email to cobirds@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to cobirds+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/cobirds?hl=en.