Birders,
Fourteen observers took part in the John Martin Reservoir CBC on Monday,
December 17th. Weather conditions were good, with an afternoon high
appoaching 60 degrees F, although it was very windy in late afternoon. A
total of 109 species were found, impressive considering the low numbers
of land birds present. The open water of the reservoir helped make up
for the dearth of land birds, at least in species diversity. Record low
numbers of the birds most prevalent on most counts will surely dethrone
this count from its usual perch as the Colorado CBC with the most
individual birds. Counts of Snow, Ross', Cackling and Canada Geese were
in the hundreds this year, instead of tens of thousands. The same trend
held for Common Mergansers and Mallards. However, the presence of open
water allowed late southbound American White Pelicans to linger in
numbers never before documented on a Colorado CBC. I don't have the data
in front of me, but I believe the number was 255, almost equaling the
number of Common Goldeneyes (which usually number in the thousands). The
count recorded huge numbers of gulls, with a smattering of rarities.
Eight Lesser Black-backed and eight Thayer's were new records for the
count. Only one Bonaparte's Gull remained for the count. The highlight
of the count was a well-described Glaucous-winged Gull, the only new
bird for the count. Two interesting hybrid gulls were documented, a
Glaucous-winged X Herring Gull and a Great Black-backed X Herring Gull.
Unusual were eight Western Grebes and one Clark's Grebe.
Owls stole the show, with one Short-eared Owl found during the day, and
one calling Western Screech-Owl and one Eastern Screech-Owl performing
only four miles apart at night. One can argue that John Martin Reservoir
is where east meets west, and north meets south.
Passerines were way down in numbers, but a few species stood out. Two
Blue-gray Gnatcatchers were seen together below the dam. Northern
Mockingbird and Brown Thrasher were found with a lot of effort. A record
eight Townsend's Solitaires were found, along with two small flocks of
Mountain Bluebirds among the numerous Eastern Bluebirds. The rarest
sparrow was a lone Savannah, quite a contrast from the 39 found in 2011.
A new record was set with 16 Swamp Sparrows. One flock of four Common
Redpolls was seen and heard in flight.
I would like to thank the observers that came from near and far. The
people that help here annually make this the great count it has proven
to be.
Duane Nelson
Las Animas, Bent County, CO
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