Following up on an eBird report this morning of a Swallow-tailed Kite flying over I-25 n of Wellington, I went on a wild kite chase late this morning and afternoon. I did NOT find a Swallow-tailed Kite. At Hamilton Reservoir:1 FOY Bonaparte's Gull in basic plumage1 FOY Turkey Vulturegood assortment of common waterfowl including the 4 most-common grebes I headed east to the big reservoir on Weld CR124 a few miles w of CR77 (on Porter Creek, so, can we call this "Porter Creek Reservoir" for future reference?). It had a high water level and good assortment of waterfowl, including Buffleheads and Canvasbacks. Went n to GR96, turned w and did most of the Birding Auto Loop (96 w to 69 n to 104 w to 65). At 65 I broke off the designated route and went s on 65, got into a mess of obscure FRs and myriad shooters getting ready for the UN troops. Finally got out of there and drove home. Of note, during the Auto Loop:Zero longspurs on GR96 between 77 and 69 (very surprising)1 (FOS, FOY up north) McCown's Longspur on 69 between 96 and 10415-20 McCown's Longspurs on 104 between 69 and 65Rough-legged Hawk (getting late) on 65 s of 104Rock Wren (FOY) on 104 w of 69 at Birding Route Stop 10no CcLongspursno Mountain Ploversno Burrowing Owlsno raptors except for a few kestrels and the Roughie 1 female Merlin (quite likely a 'taiga') on SR 14 about 2 miles e of Ault Lastly, I have seen a lot of bad-looking, poorly explained birds on official natural resource agency signs, but the ones on the Pawnee National Grasslands Birding Auto Loop take the cake. I could say a lot more about how important it is to get environmental education right, especially out there at present, but I'll stop. Dave LeathermanFort Collins
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