Last week, with wife and out of town birders, I went to Zapata Falls (no fee, ~12 miles south of Great Sand Dunes) to look for Black Swifts.
These birds were easily seen from the parking area where the trail leads to the falls from sunset until dark. Mostly focusing on the area above the falls, with or without binoculars, from the parking area you can easily find a few at a time circling over the hillside. And this continues until dark. The only question you have to answer for yourself is your confidence in what you are seeing. There are Violet-green Swallows and bats also flying around. You can clearly make out the swift-like outline and behavior from these other two animals. It is also clearly an all dark swift; ruling out white-throated swifts, which could be in the area, although I didn't see any. You can also reasonably convince yourself that these are black swifts, as opposed to brownish chimney swifts. While my fellow birder from Indiana is familiar with the latter, I am never confident making size distinctions (Chimney-5.25" vs Black-7.25") under these conditions. I am not aware of Chimney Swifts in this area; but I don't know. I have seen them in Colorado Springs just a month ago. If you can brave the frigidly painful (I find it literally painful after a few minutes of being in it) water leading up to the falls, I saw a nest on a small horizontal ledge (I assumed they would be attached to a vertical surface) to the right of the fall about 6-8 ft down from the top. It looked to be in good shape and therefore probably this year's construction. I could not confirm anything on the nest and therefore cannot confirm that it is indeed a swift nest. I did not make the 4-5 ft ascent into the final falls chamber; due to the fact that it would have meant getting soaked and that final 4-5 ft appeared to be fraught with slippery rocks and danger. As my wife reminds me, I am not a spring chicken any more. Complete list of species from the Zapata Falls area, Sand Dunes and the hike up to South Zapata Lake at 11,900' (trail that branches off the falls trail) is below. Highlights: . Common Nighthawk (many taking flight at dusk) . Common Poorwill (didn't hear them call in the evening; only in pre-dawn early morning) . Black Swift . Rufous Hummingbird (FOS) . Gray Flycatcher . Ash-throated Flycatcher . Pinyon Jay . Juniper Titmouse Also had a Blue Grosbeak at the Alamosa NWR - auto tour. The mosquitos along the Rio Grande trail sent us quickly packing for the auto-tour option. Jeff J Jones ( <mailto:[email protected]> [email protected]) Teller County - 8500' - Montane Woodlands FIRST SIGHTINGS: World: 1, Location: 1 Species: 57 ANATIDAE - 1 Mallard Anas platyrhynchos CATHARTIDAE - 1 Turkey Vulture Cathartes aura ACCIPITRIDAE - 5 Sharp-shinned Hawk Accipiter striatus Cooper's Hawk Accipiter cooperii Swainson's Hawk Buteo swainsoni Red-tailed Hawk Buteo jamaicensis Golden Eagle Aquila chrysaetos COLUMBIDAE - 1 Mourning Dove Zenaida macroura CAPRIMULGIDAE - 2 Common Nighthawk Chordeiles minor Common Poorwill Phalaenoptilus nuttallii APODIDAE - 1 Black Swift [w] Cypseloides niger TROCHILIDAE - 2 Broad-tailed Hummingbird Selasphorus platycercus Rufous Hummingbird Selasphorus rufus PICIDAE - 1 Northern Flicker Colaptes auratus TYRANNIDAE - 5 Gray Flycatcher Empidonax wrightii Cordilleran Flycatcher Empidonax occidentalis Say's Phoebe Sayornis saya Ash-throated Flycatcher Myiarchus cinerascens Western Kingbird Tyrannus verticalis VIREONIDAE - 2 Plumbeous Vireo Vireo plumbeus Warbling Vireo Vireo gilvus CORVIDAE - 6 Pinyon Jay Gymnorhinus cyanocephalus Steller's Jay Cyanocitta stelleri Clark's Nutcracker Nucifraga columbiana Black-billed Magpie Pica hudsonia American Crow Corvus brachyrhynchos Common Raven Corvus corax HIRUNDINIDAE - 3 Violet-green Swallow Tachycineta thalassina Cliff Swallow Petrochelidon pyrrhonota Barn Swallow Hirundo rustica PARIDAE - 2 Mountain Chickadee Poecile gambeli Juniper Titmouse Baeolophus ridgwayi AEGITHALIDAE - 1 Bushtit Psaltriparus minimus SITTIDAE - 2 White-breasted Nuthatch Sitta carolinensis Pygmy Nuthatch Sitta pygmaea CERTHIIDAE - 1 Brown Creeper Certhia americana TROGLODYTIDAE - 1 Rock Wren Salpinctes obsoletus CINCLIDAE - 1 American Dipper Cinclus mexicanus REGULIDAE - 1 Ruby-crowned Kinglet Regulus calendula TURDIDAE - 4 Mountain Bluebird Sialia currucoides Townsend's Solitaire Myadestes townsendi Hermit Thrush Catharus guttatus American Robin Turdus migratorius PARULIDAE - 1 Yellow-rumped Warbler Setophaga coronata Yellow-rumped Warbler (Audubon's) auduboni Setophaga coronata auduboni EMBERIZIDAE - 8 Green-tailed Towhee Pipilo chlorurus Spotted Towhee Pipilo maculatus Chipping Sparrow Spizella passerina Vesper Sparrow Pooecetes gramineus Savannah Sparrow Passerculus sandwichensis Song Sparrow Melospiza melodia White-crowned Sparrow Zonotrichia leucophrys Dark-eyed Junco (Gray-headed) caniceps Junco hyemalis caniceps CARDINALIDAE - 2 Western Tanager Piranga ludoviciana Black-headed Grosbeak Pheucticus melanocephalus ICTERIDAE - 2 Western Meadowlark Sturnella neglecta Brown-headed Cowbird Molothrus ater FRINGILLIDAE - 1 Red Crossbill Loxia curvirostra Birder's Diary - www.BirdersDiary.com - 7/8/2013 -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group. 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