Greetings All,
Please excuse me if this post is a bit befuddled. I arose at 3:30 so as to arrive at Holyoke shortly after sunrise. It now nearly 1 am. My brain, well, it functions only on a partial basis. So... Cutting to the chase, there was a CAPE MAY WARBLER (imm female) at the Overland Museum) near Sterling. The Museum is just north of I-76 on US-6 headed towards Sterling. Get off at US-6, and the left turn for the museum is not far n. of I-76. There is a smallish sign for it. Make that left, and you'll see the museum on your left. You can bird much of it from outside (and some of the grounds only from outside) but pay the 3$, go in, and get your money's worth. There is a nice diversity of trees including spruce (ahem!), a large tree with Mountain Ash like leaves (but it isn't one), and a fountain. It looks as if anyone with a bent towards history would enjoy the spot as well. I digress.. The warbler was moving from a juniper, to the fruiting tree, and back. The fruiting tree was stuffed with stuffed waxwings. There was not another warbler about. On the outside of the grounds, however, there were 2 RED-EYED VIREOS. How did I find this place? EBird. It has many potential uses. I searched e. Colorado for sightings of "less rare" "eastern vagrants," such as Black-and-white Warbler and Blackpoll. I then clicked on the locations I didn't know. I think David Ely had a Blackpoll or Tennessee here something like 15 years ago... Thank You, David. Truly, the museum is like that horrid rest stop at Julesburg, only pleasant to bird. The drawing in Sibley of "dull, fall" (or something like that) is pretty good. Don't look at the Geo Guide on this one. Okay, back to Holyoke. The Holyoke Cemetery also had a RED-EYED VIREO and a tardy DICKCISSEL (out in the alfalfa). The town of Holyoke was not as birdy as last week, but I had THREE MORE RED-EYED VIREOS and another PHILADELPHIA VIREO. Two of the REVIs (with 4 late Warbling Vireos and a Cassin's Vireo) were in front of Justice Hall. Don't know what their crimes were. The Philly was with another Warbling and another REVI in an alleyway just n. of the high school. 4 FIELD SPARROWS (to be expected, truly) were in the cornfield just s. of the central park. Methinks these are migrants, and they all appeared to be of the expected western race. At the Haxtun Sewage Ponds (along US-6, just e. of town, just n. of hwy), a flock of 60 or so longspurs kept circling, landing briefly, taking off. Several times, they actually tried to alight on the water. Quite odd. The vast majority were Chestnut-collared, but there was at least one McCown's Longspur and a rather early Lapland. At the Haxtun City Park, there was an immature CHESTNUT-SIDED WARBLER, an immature BROAD-WINGED HAWK, and a somewhat early BROWN CREEPER. In a nearby yard, there was an immature INDIGO BUNTING and a FIELD SPARROW. Finally, at N Sterling Reservoir, there were a reasonable number of Franklin's, RB, and Cal Gulls, but no Sabine's or other gulls of interest. The weedy fringes had good numbers of sparrows, but naught of interest specifically. A MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRD in one of the fields bespeaks the ongoing early and largish push of montane species into lowlands (as does the creeper). For the day in general, the presence of water (fountain or puddles or wet green grass) seemed the best predictor of insectivores. For seedy birds, water seemed not so important. In this dry year, good weedy patches are few, and the birds really clustered in those. Okay, now off to bed a bit of sleep in. Good Birding Steven Mlodinow Longmont, CO -- 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 https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
