As many of you are painfully aware, recent flooding has made crossing of the
South Platte River problematic.
Some bridges remain closed and flooded continues in the low lying portions of
the floodplain all the way to the border of the state.
Trying to get from Jumbo to I 76 Sunday afternoon we found some crossing points
closed while others were marked with "water may occur on the road surface".
Ignoring the latter signs, we elected to take Route 55 south from Crook. The
roadway proved to be dry but adjacent fields were clearly flooded. Halfway
across the floodplain we made a U turn to view a flock of ibis near the east
side of the roadway. Slowing to a stop on what little portion of the road
shoulder was available, we were startled when dozens of Wilson's snipe and
Killdeer flushed from the field beside us.
As the car ground to a stop, a long-billed snipe-sized shorebird flushed from
ditch beside the car and flew ahead of us down the road before crossing to west
and disappearing. The impression I immediately had was that the bird was an
American Woodcock. It did not have the twisting erratic flight of the snipe
(which we had just observed) and lacked the orange tail. We had good views of
the bird's back as it flew directly in front of us and the striping appeared to
be gray, not the bold bright stripes shown by snipe and it certainly lacked the
white rump and back strip of a dowitcher.
My point in posting is not to resolve this ID but to suggest that birding along
roads crossing the South Platte present previously unavailable opportunities to
view shorebirds and other waterbird at close range. In addition to the
aforementioned species, we observed yellowlegs, pectoral sandpipers, and
numerous flocks of waterfowl on the north side of the Platte.
Stopping on Rt 55 is, however, somewhat risky since to hosts most of the
traffic trying to get across the South Platte in the area. More cautious
observers may wish to do their viewing from less traveled (or closed roads) in
the area (e.g. Rd 37 from Sterling, or Road 93 to the south of Red Lion).
Doug Kibbe
Littleton, Co.
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