Four of us gathered at Chico Basin Ranch, 1 from Tucson, 1 from Olympia, WA and 2 from Boulder to have a good, HOT weekend of birding. While the weather was not exactly hot, the birding was good, not great, but good. With the help of House Sparrows, we hit 100 species. Thanks to John Drummond who gave us excellent directions to find 1 Mountain Plover and 1 chick (of course, there might have been more because she was mostly on the nest). Thursday night camping was the foreshadowing of the gale force winds that prevented Steve and Nancy from opening the nets on Friday. Nevertheless, we persevered and had some nice birds that day and then Saturday. A few highlights or FOS:
Banding Station: Worm-eating Warbler Black-and-white Warbler Female Rose-breasted Grosbeak 4 Bobwhites (so tame from their release, I almost stepped on 1 male) Blue Grosbeak Orchard Oriole Ash-throated Flycatcher Plumbeous Vireo Headquarters on Fri and Sat (was dead except for Saturday afternoon): Solitary Sandpiper Northern Waterthrush Eared Grebe FOS Western Wood Peewee Rose Pond over 2 days (always changing): FOS Green-tailed Towhee Twin Ponds (both of these species listed as "rare"): Wood Duck (pair) Double-crested Cormorant (juvenile plumage) Then returning to Big Johnson Res (at the suggestion of Tom and Skylar Bol) 3 Common Loons (2 in breeding plumage, 1 in non-breeding plumage) (they had a Caspian Tern, but we didn't see it) Pond on Squirrel Creek Road just before Big J Res: 3 Willets (breeding plumage) 1 Greater Yellowlegs 3 Least Sandpipers 1 Red-necked Phalarope in group of 14 Wilson's Finally, a quick tourist stop at Garden of the Gods which in the 5 minute stop turned up 2 Prairie Falcons chasing a screaming at a Peregrin Falcon. That all made my heart race. In all, a fabulous trip. One of the highlights was being present for Nancy and Steve at the banding station as they processed a lovely Long-eared Owl female that had the bad idea of flying into the net. That was truly awesome. Cara Stiles Boulder, CO -- 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.
