Hi all: As Steve noted, he, Mark Peterson, and I did a Big Day on 4 June in long hopes of breaking the 200 mark for the month, but with expectations of beating the previous published monthly record of 183. In the following, counties are abbreviated with the standard three-letter codes (Rio Grande -- RIG; Conejos -- CON; Costilla -- COS; Huerfano -- HUE; Las Animas -- LAA; Pueblo -- PUE; Otero -- OTE; Bent -- BEN; Kiowa -- KIO; and Prowers -- PRO).
We attempted owling in the eastern San Juan Mtns of RiRIG and CON, but scored only Flammulated Owl (RIG) and Common Poorwill (CON) up Cat Creek on FR 271; no Boreal, N. Saw-whet, N. Pygmy, or Long-eared. Bummer. After we found the gate closed at first light on the road to Trujillo Meadows Res., we wandered around the La Manga and Cumbres Pass areas looking for the various species we had hoped to snag at and near the reservoir. While we did get Pine Grosbeak and Steve's White-winged Crossbill below La Manga Pass (N of the pass on short road on W side of Hwy 17) a family group of Gray Jays on the road to Spruce Hole, and Swainson's Thrush and Fox Sparrow west of Cumbres Pass (all CON), we did have to spend more time in looking for the things than we had planned. And with the very long route we had planned, time was one thing that we didn't have in abundance. It turns out that our strategy of building in a lot more travel time than we actually expected to use paid big dividends, as we kept falling behind by spending more time on feet than planned, but kept making it up in the time on wheels. The area around Horca, CON, got us our Common Merganser, Band-tailed Pigeon (Mark only), Williamson's Sapsucker, Olive-sided and Dusky flycatchers, American Dipper, and Veery (2 birds calling). Mogote Campground gave us White-breasted and Pygmy nuthatches, but not the expected Plumbeous Vireo nor hoped-for Grace's Warbler (Mark had tallied the species there in a previous trip). The CON flat lands on our trip from Manassa (boyhood home of Jack Dempsey) to Pike's Stockade and beyond to the Rio Grande got us most of the expected waterbirds, particularly ducks and our only American Bittern at the south end of 24 Rd. The 3 Black-necked Stilts (one pair and an extra male, I think) were on the south side of Z Road NE of Pike's Stockade. A fruitless wandering-around looking for Mountain Plover in western COS was followed by an excellent stop at Smith Reservoir (COS) where we netted Ring-necked Duck, Lesser Scaup, Great and Snowy egrets, Black-crowned Night-Heron, Snowy Plover, and White-rumped Sandpiper (3 or 4) among the more-expected waterbird species. As we'd gotten Sage Sparrow shortly after midnight, we didn't have to try for the species near Fort Garland, so we motored on over the Sangre de Cristos Mtns heading for La Veta (HUE). A quick stop by Beverly Jensen's house netted us our firsts for Black-chinned Hummingbird, House Finch, and Evening Grosbeak. We hurried over to 362 Road (SE of La Veta) to tally Bobolink and also scored Cordilleran Flycatcher and Lazuli Bunting there. An abbreivated trip through Lathrop SP got us our Plumbeous Vireo and Yellow-breasted Chat, but not the hoped-for Green Heron. A not-so-quick detour down to Pryor got us Hepatic Tanager and Indigo Bunting and a trip up 310 Road got us a few of the PJ specialties we'd targeted there: Gray and Ash-throated flycatchers, Western Scrub-Jay, Juniper Titmouse, and Blue-gray Gnatcatcher. Unfortunately, warblers did not do right by us, as we missed Virginia's and Black-throated Gray. A stop in Walsenburg provided gas for the long run out to Higbee, along with Chimney Swift. We then were eastbound on Hwy 10 (Maria Reservoir -- HUE, did not provide us the hoped-for Canvasback) through the desert grasslands of eastern HUE, LAA, and PUE. On that run, we got expected additions: Mountain Plover, Burrowing Owl, Cassin's Kingbird, Loggerhead Shrike, Chihuahuan Raven, Curve-billed Thrasher, and Canyon Towhee. The Higbee road (OTE) is always a great birding locale with an incredibly diverse breeding avifauna. However, as we approached it this time, clouds were rolling in and it got cooler (it was in the 90s in Walsenburg) and this trip through Higbee was downright magical. Though we had to work for them, we got all of the expected rock species (Canyon and Rock wrens, Rufous-crowned Sparrow) and also got a couple of the low-elevation shrubland species we needed: Scaled Quail and Black-throated Sparrow. Throw in the expected-but-not-to-be-expected riparian species -- Wild Turkey, Northern Bobwhite, and Eastern Phoebe -- and the definitely-not-to-be-expected riparian species of White-winged Dove, Red-headed Woodpecker, and Eastern Bluebird and it's a pretty good trip. But the spectacle of Blue Grosbeaks (69 of 'em) on the road -- carpeting it in places completed the uplifting of the trip to the level of magical. Magical, yes, but now it's after 6 pm and we've got to get all the way to Neegronda Reservoir (KIO) before dark. Oxbow SWA provided the only real wind of the day, hampering our abilities to find Great Crested Flycatcher, but we did add Brown Thrasher, Cassin's Sparrow, and Rose-breasted Grosbeak. The plum hedges there are perfect for Bell's Vireo -- perfect, except for the fact that they're in OTE, rather than in northeast CO, but last year's bird(s) apparently did not return. The area around Van's Grove (BEN) gave us Northern Harrier at the staked-out nest and the grove itself provided us with our only real rarity of the day -- Gray-cheeked Thrush, which obviously had listened to me. Steve first found the bird and called out that he had a Catharus thrush and I responded, "Come on, Gray-cheeked Thrush!" When we finally got a good look at it, ZOUNDS! We studied it for far too long (we WERE on a Big Day), but intense scrutiny did not alter our quick ID of the bird, so we departed for points north and west. We scored Orchard Oriole on the run north from Hasty (BEN) up to the KIO border for our run east to Neegronda, which had been hosting a good variety of shorebirds recently. We got there a few minutes before sunset with more than enough light to ID shorebirds, but with little in the way of shorebirds present. The reservoir had White-rumped Sandpipers and gave us our only Black Terns of the day (1 adult, 3 1st-cycle birds), but we quickly decided that we'd continue east and try for shorebirds and the summering Snow Geese at Neenoshe Res (KIO). Good decision! Neenoshe gave us the Snow Geese and Semipalmated and Stilt sandpipers! Then, after it was dark, we headed east and checked out a Ferruginous Hawk nest that Mark knew and saw the male Ferrug perched in the nest tree in our headlights. A run south to a marsh along LL Road got us the expected Black Rails and a calling Barn Owl. When we couldn't find the Bald Eagle nest east of Lamar, we called it a night and hit the Sonic in Lamar for a very late dinner. During the whole jaunt, I had been responsible for tallying species, but I kept finding that I'd forgotten to check species off. So, while we were eating, Mark went through the list and found yet another species that I'd forgotten to mark: American Wigeon. We thought that that would put us at 194 for the day, but he added things up again and came up with "only" 193. Ah, well, but still ten better than the existing published record of 183. The next evening at Mark's house, Mark entered all the species that we noted on the Big Day and, lo and behold, 194! Species in the Miss category were few, but numerous enough to point out how reasonable it is to expect to get 200 species on the route some day: Wood Duck, American White Pelican (seen next day at Holbrook Res, OTE), Green Heron, any accipiter (we allowed for one species in our planning and didn't even get that!), Golden Eagle, Long-billed Curlew and Franklin's Gull (both seen at Lake Cheraw the next day), Greater Roadrunner, Western and Eastern screech-owls, Northern Pygmy-Owl, Long-eared Owl, Northern Saw-whet Owl, Boreal Owl, Belted Kingfisher, Lewis's Woodpecker, American Three-toed Woodpecker, Hammond's Flycatcher, Great Crested Flycatcher, Bank Swallow, Black-capped Chickadee, Bushtit, Brown Creeper, Bewick's Wren, Virginia's Warbler, Black-throated Gray Warbler, Lark Bunting, Grasshopper Sparrow, and Red Crossbill. Other species that are somewhere near the route and/or occur along the route in some years include: Canvasback, Bald Eagle, Least Tern, Black Phoebe, Red-eyed Vireo (seen the next day at Tempel Grove), Grace's Warbler, Northern Cardinal, and Baltimore Oriole. Enjoy, Tony Leukering Villas, NJ -- 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.
