This weekend, my wife and I went camping near Lost Creek Wilderness in Park County (link to Google Maps location <http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=203710880197837155841.0004a9728682527d3 4163&msa=0&ll=39.338612,-105.73946&spn=0.029175,0.037508> ). North end of South Park at 9,700' elevation.
At this location, we saw and got good looks at what I am fairly certain is my first Sprague's Pipit. It appeared to even be a juvenile with some cottony tuft remnants above the eyes. It was in open fields with potentilla, vasey's rabbitbrush, paintbrush, Colorado rubber plant, pasture sage, rock primrose, grasses, etc. Only one seen; not with others. Did not bob tail, blank face, big white wing-bars, upper breast streaks, scaly/streaked back; did not note leg color. Got looks from as close as 30 ft. Did not note the calls as it shot to the air eventually and to parts unknown. But it did call; just wasn't thinking to take a note of it. Would this bird be expected here in South Park? Would a juv. be expected here? Possible breeding in South Park? Or, migrant already from parts further north? Also, pair of western wood-pewees nesting in high apsen horizontal fork; defending 3 near-fledging young from marauding steller's jay all day. Only sign of on-going breeding found here over 3 days. Many species feeding young; but most of breeding, from past experience here, occurs mid-June to early-July. First nest of wood-pewees ever found by myself in aspen. Also, had Olive-sided Flycatcher calling early Saturday morning. Complete list below. Jeff J Jones ( <mailto:[email protected]> [email protected]) Teller County - 8500' - Montane Woodlands FIRST SIGHTINGS: World: 1, Annual: 2 Species: 28 - Subspecies: 1 - Forms: 28 Total Records: 28 NAME SCIENTIFIC NAME Canada Goose Branta canadensis Turkey Vulture Cathartes aura Red-tailed Hawk Buteo jamaicensis Common Nighthawk Chordeiles minor Broad-tailed Hummingbird Selasphorus platycercus Rufous Hummingbird Selasphorus rufus Downy Woodpecker Picoides pubescens Hairy Woodpecker Picoides villosus Northern Flicker Colaptes auratus Olive-sided Flycatcher Contopus cooperi Western Wood-Pewee Contopus sordidulus Western Kingbird Tyrannus verticalis Warbling Vireo Vireo gilvus Steller's Jay Cyanocitta stelleri Clark's Nutcracker Nucifraga columbiana American Crow Corvus brachyrhynchos Common Raven Corvus corax Tree Swallow Tachycineta bicolor Violet-green Swallow Tachycineta thalassina Mountain Chickadee Poecile gambeli White-breasted Nuthatch Sitta carolinensis House Wren Troglodytes aedon Mountain Bluebird Sialia currucoides American Robin Turdus migratorius Sprague's Pipit Anthus spragueii Vesper Sparrow Pooecetes gramineus Dark-eyed Junco (Gray-headed) caniceps Junco hyemalis caniceps Pine Siskin Spinus pinus Birder's Diary - www.BirdersDiary.com - 8/1/2011 -- 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.
