Greetings All, Ted got the summary of the "westside" Fox Ranch group pretty well right, though I'd probably have put the PACIFIC WREN in caps. The bird was seen briefly (enough to discern it was a "stub-tailed wren" and heard well and repeatedly.
We also had 2 Yell0w-bellied Sapsuckers, a White-throated Sparrow, a late Brewer's Sparrow, a Field Sparrow, and a Red-bellied Woodpecker (the latter two somewhat expected). We also had 5 GC Kinglets and 7 Brown Creepers, seemingly good numbers for the e. edge of the state Wray Fish Hatchery had a WINTER WREN, 2 RED-BELLIED WOODPECKERS, and another WHITE-THROATED SPARROW Driving north from Wray, the snow cover in the surrounding fields was obviously quite thick, so I took Joey Kellner's advice of what to do if I encountered such a situation, and turned down road 48.5, headed e. from the highway between Wray and Holyoke. The road is only 0.8 miles long. The clear highlight was calling (bzzzrrt, bzzzrt) and seen EASTERN MEADOWLARK (second one probably present) among >100 Western Meadowlarks. Though nothing else rare was along this short stretch of road, the number of White-crowned, Vesper, and Chipping Sparrows all approached or exceeded 100... and I got my "Ammo" for the day, a Grasshopper Sparrow. Before I could drive down any other roads, I was called by Mark Peterson suggesting that I join him at the Holyoke Cemetery, which was bursting with birds. Though we saw naught rarer than 2 WHITE-THROATED SPARROWS, there were 100+ YR Warblers (about 85% Myrtles), 300+ robins, and 120 or so Chipping Sparrows. Mark had a Field Sparrow before I arrived, as I recall. At the central park in Holyoke, there was a YELLOW-BELLIED SAPSUCKER and a swarm of both RB and WB Nuthatches (but, alas, no Pygmies). A rather interesting day birding. The 6-8 mile, 7 hour morning hike through sleet, and snow, and fits of hail was quite the exertion, with small (and exciting flocks) stumbled upon hither and yon. The birds were mostly sluggish and quiet, so finding them was mostly luck. Given what we found, I can only imagine what we missed. Anyway, don't have to feel guilty about not going to the gym 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.
