COBirders, I ventured out during the letup in the rain today...what a difference from Sunday! Cottonwood Marsh was nearly dry on Sunday and today is full to overflowing. The road on the west side of the wetland is completely washed out, and water is cascading down like a miniature Niagra Falls! The boardwalk was more than a foot under water when I left.
No shore, therefore no shorebirds at Cottonwood. But there were at least 8 Black Tern, plus many ducks including a pair of female Bufflehead. Another surprise were approx. 9 Tree Swallows, the only non-Barn Swallows I've seen in weeks. A quick tour of the nearby ponds turned up mostly Killdeer and Solitary Sandpipers, 13 SOSA by my count. There were also 2 Spotted Sandpipers, 1 Least Sandpiper and 3 fly-over Dowitchers, presumably Long-billed. I never re-found these to get a good look. No sign of the previously reported Pectoral Sandpipers, but I didn't check the western ponds. There were a few warblers about, mostly Wilson's. An Eastern Phoebe, previously reported by Ted Floyd, and a few sparrows including 2 Clay-colored. I surprised a Sharp-shinned Hawk that was too wet to flee and instead just perched with its wings and tail spread like a cormorant trying to dry off...like the rest of us no doubt. Best wishes to everyone, Peter Burke Boulder -- http://www.linkedin.com/pub/peter-burke/5/788/a62 -- 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 cobirds+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to cobirds@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/CACjv0GYuzhXicLGQWniWYo%2BWokY48ESPaswQZMxHU3UfbPo_%3DA%40mail.gmail.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
