Janeal Thompson and I got to the north end of the Lamar Community College Woods
about 10am this morning and never got more than 100 yards to the south by
mid-afternoon. To say that it was hopping would be an understatement.
Highlights:
CANADA WARBLER (1f) hardest bird on the planet to photograph under the light
conditions. Stayed mostly in the matrimony vine (aka "wolfberry") thicket
under the big cottonwoods between the main trail and Willow Creek to the east.
It also frequented the tamarisk thickets far east of the trail (i.e. the
riparian vegetation on the west shore of Willow Creek), with retreats into the
lower canopies of cottonwoods on occasion, and into Russian-olives on occasion,
all about 75 yards s of the north end of the woods.
Blue-headed Vireo (at least 2)
Red-eyed Vireo (at least 3)
Northern Waterthrush (1)
Black-throated Blue Warbler (1f) - seen briefly by Janeal
Nashville Warbler (at least 2, maybe as many as 5)
Black-and-white Warbler (at least 2f)
Black-throated Green Warbler? (based on the very limited amount of yellow on
the underparts and what appears to be a yellow vent area, that's probably the
ID of this bird seen and photographed by Janeal).
Townsend's Warbler (1 or 2)
probable YELLOW-BELLIED FLYCATCHER (perhaps the same bird seen yesterday and
thought to be this species, although in a location fairly far away (i.e., today
at the north end of the woods, w of the trail in the shadows of Russian-olives
and small hackberries, always down low)
Baltimore Oriole (1m)
Mississippi Kite (huge flock of over 40 birds moving southward overhead)
Northern Cardinal (heard)
Red-bellied Woodpecker (heard)
Total of right at 40 species (no sparrows, 1 thrush, 1 swallow, only waterbird
was a kingfisher), all in the north end of the LCC Woods!
Comments I forgot to make over the last couple days:
Lots of Swainson's Hawks grouping up in the area, on the ground, soaring. A
couple of these were dark immatures, a morph I have not seen a whole lot of
over the years. One was photographed in a cottonwood at Tempel's Grove (where
on 9/14 there were NOT a lot of other birds (one Black-and-white and a
redstart, for best birds)).
Chiggers are an issue at LCC and probably anywhere down here with tall grass
and kochia weeds. Janeal, Duane Nelson, and I all got a crop, despite DEET and
other precautions involving tucking pant cuffs in socks, etc.
The birds are turning over fast and, as Joe's relayed field reports from Doug
and Mackenzie at Flagler indicate, things change in a matter of hours.
Major prey items at present appear to be green lacewings, mosquitoes, a species
(or small set of species) of pyralid moths (tan, triangular, with pointed
snouts similar to sod webworms), dogday cicadas, and grasshoppers.
This area only got about an inch and a half of rain, which is wonderful
(something significant but not too much), and the Arkansas River is not running
full (still has sandbars under the main bridge north of the Cow Palace Motel in
Lamar).
Dave Leatherman
Fort Collins
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