Early Wednesday morning I did some birding at Lake Hasty and the Lamar Community College woods without finding much of note, unlike the experience I had the day before with Duane Nelson at LCC with the numerous good birds we saw there. I then went to Tempel Grove and birded for 3 hours in the often heavy rain, wet thigh-high weeds, and slippery, sticky mud, starting around 10:45. (For some unknown reason, no one else was out there birding . . . . ) The birding started out fairly slow for the first half hour or so, but thereafter started to pick up.
The highlights: PHILADELPHIA VIREO (I actually believe there were two of them there together, but I ended up focusing on only one); Cassin's Vireo (1); Blackpoll Warbler (1, bright fall male that had me wondering about Pine Warbler). Others of interest included: Townsend's Warbler (1 male); American Redstart (1 female); Great-crested Flycatcher (1); Red-bellied Woodpecker (1); Swainson's Thrush (2); Clay-colored Sparrow (at least 3, likely more); Several empids, including one "Traill's" that I thought was most likely a Willow Flycatcher; Olive-sided Flycatcher (at least 2); Warbling Vireo (1); Rock Wren (2). Species found in the greatest numbers out there were probably Wilson's Warblers, low-flying Common Nighthawks, and Barn Swallows, with at least a few dozen of each. Most of the best birds, including the 3 highlight species I mentioned, were strung out along the first 1/2 mile or so of the eastern canal road, which I started walking around 12:30, the rest were all in the woods on the western side of CR 35 which I birded first. I never did walk out the west side canal road, so don't know what, if anything, might have been out that direction. It is also quite possible that I missed a lot of birds where I did walk, given the challenging conditions while I was there. David Gillilan Littleton -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/DD486B5C-8F59-4A43-8F22-97B41823EE36%40gmail.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
