Hello, Birders. Just back from several days in Lincoln and El Paso counties. Here's a quick round-up:
Thursday evening, July 21st. Brett Gray Ranch (PRIVATE), Lincoln County. A little before midnight Mark Peterson woke up Bryan Patrick and me with the exciting news that BLACK RAILS were calling. And so they were. Despite the latish date, there were three calling Black Rails in the marshes here. And the marshland complex here is immense; one wonders how many more are out there. Friday, July 22nd. Brett Gray Ranch (PRIVATE), Lincoln County. Bryan and Mark and I counted birds for The Nature Conservancy's 3-day "BioBlitz" of the site. The day's first highlight was getting one of the Black Rails; it was still singing after midnight, and thus qualified for inclusion in the checklist for the three-day event. Also cool were two singing RED-EYED VIREOS. Chris Pague and I had seen the species at this site two summers ago, the only other time I've visited. I wonder if there's a little population of Red-eyes here. We also found a pure-looking MEXICAN DUCK and an apparent hybrid MALLARD X MEXICAN DUCK. Other birds included nesting GADWALLS and RUDDY DUCKS, a BURROWING OWL, 3 RED-HEADED WOODPECKERS of which one was tending a nest, a CASSIN'S KINGBIRD, a -nelsoni- (Interior West) WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCH, an adult male EASTERN BLUEBIRD, a BROWN THRASHER, at least 16 CASSIN'S SPARROWS, 1 BREWER'S SPARROW, 3 ORCHARD ORIOLES, a curious fly-over PINE SISKIN; and CHRIS PAGUE. Of course, I'm certain that all of you are waiting breathlessly to hear about the warbling-vireos at the Brett Gray Ranch. I recorded one, just looked at the sound spectrograms, and would say the result is maybe Western Warbling-Vireo, maybe best left identified as indeterminate. Oh, and we found 2 molt-migrant CHIPPING SPARROWS, which were thrilling. Saturday evening, July 23rd. Starsmore Disovery Center, El Paso County. With lots of ABAers. Of interest was a TYPE 5 RED CROSSBILL. Well, they get around. There were also a few TYPE 2 RED CROSSBILLS there. And a stunning adult male RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRD. Sunday "morning," July 24th. Discovery Park, a.k.a. Jeff and Lethal Liz Gordon's north balcony. At 2:12 a.m., a nice pulse of CHIPPING SPARROWS migrating overhead. The flight continued throughout the 2am hour. Utterly enchanting. Sunday, July 24th. Big Johnson Reservoir, El Paso County. With John Drummond and a few ABAers. 1 WOOD DUCK, 2 COMMON LOONS, 1 MISSISSIPPI KITE terrorizing a large swarm of BANK SWALLOWS, 1 WILLET, 1 GARBLED MODWIT, 3 BAIRD'S SANDPIPERS, 12 WILSON'S PHALAROPES, and 4 CASSIN'S SPARROWS. We had a tricky gull out there. It started out as a Franklin's Gull, then morphed into a maybe/probable Laughing Gull, then we weren't so sure. Oh, well. (It was transitional between its first and second plumage-cycles, if anybody's still awake.) Sunday, July 24th. Back to Jeff & Liz's place, where I saw THE famous adult male CALLIOPE HUMMINGBIRD. ------------------------------- Ted Floyd Editor, Birding Please check out the website of the ABA: http://tinyurl.com/6kmbfvx And please check out The ABA Blog: http://tinyurl.com/4n6qswt We're on twitter, too: http://tinyurl.com/2ejzlzv ------------------------------- -- 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.
