Park County, that is. And coverage seemed welcome there, given the paltry representation of reports from early April on eBird.
Sorry for the tardy report, but it has been a busy few days. On April 8 I toured through Park County on a gorgeous blue sky Colorado day, soaking up about as much mountain scenery as I could take in for one day. Birding was fun, too, with just shy of 100 Park Co species for the day. Here is a rundown of some highlights and others that struck my fancy. At Alma a GRAY JAY was along North Oak Street, near a yard with a feeder. An AM. THREE-TOED WOODPECKER was along CR 8 just outside of town. Traversing down Highway 9 from Fairplay to CR 24 a pair of AM. DIPPERS was amid the open lands of South Park at the bridge over the first South Fork South Platte 3.9 miles from Fairplay. Seems like they might nest there maybe? A LOGGERHEAD SHRIKE was at 63 Ranch SWA, and a ROCK WREN at the entry to Ranch of the Rockies off Hwy 24 near the 285 junction. There were decent numbers of a variety of ducks along the meandering South Platte at Badger Basin SWA. As I drove down the muddy SWA access road off Hwy 24 I flushed a SAGE THRASHER, which offered nice views as I drove back out later. And an AMERICAN PIPIT was along the access road, too. A GREATER YELLOWLEGS was the only shorebird there (and, along with another Greater later and a handful of Killdeer shorebirds were all but missing). A male NORTHERN HARRIER was working the wetlands downstream of the Antero Reservoir Dam. Antero was still 100% frozen. Driving south along Highway 9 to the Fremont County line I found a female WOOD DUCK along Currant Creek before reaching the CR 102 junction. Shje flushed up from a beaver pond and went downstream. I think this was a good find for Park Co. A NORTHERN PYGMY-OWL was also along Currant creek. A WESTERN SCRUB-JAY flew from Park into Fremont at the county line. Guffy had a pair of BUSHTITS and some CLARK'S NUTCRACKERS. Eleven Mile Reservoir was the best waterbird site for the day, and the only one of the large reservoirs with any open water, as Spinney Mountain was also 100% frozen. But Eleven Mile had a margin of open water along most of its southwest shoreline and a larger area at the South Platte inlet. Nesting DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANTS and GREAT BLUE HERONS were at a small island across the lake from the north end of the Witcher's Cove day use area. CALIFORNIA GULLS in the low 100s were present at the island, looking like they were also interested in nesting. (I was surprised to find CAGU missing from the standard (non-rarity) e-Bird entry checklist for Park Co in early April, but they were the most abundant gull at Eleven Mile (450), followed by 57 Ring-billeds, 2 Herrings, and 1 Franklin's). There were 21 species of waterfowl at Eleven Mile! The best were 2 BARROW'S GOLDENEYES, 1 male RED-BREASTED MERGANSER, 2 HOODED MERGANSERS, 29 GREATER SCAUP. Other waterfowl counts there were: 125 Canada Geese, 1350 Gadwall, 575 Am. Wigeon, 129 Nor. Shoveler, 6 Nor. Pintail, 2 Blue-winged Teal, 6 Cinnamon Teal, 44 Green-winged Teal, 76 Canvasback, 1140 Redhead. 58 Ring-necked Ducks, 825 Lesser Scaup, 120 scaup sp., 338 Bufflehead, 610 Common Goldeneye, 257 Common Mergansers, and 96 Ruddy Ducks. Plus 1450 Am Coots for variety. Raptor highlights were an OSPREY and a PEREGRINE FALCON. 3 ROCK WRENS were on rocks. The most striking award went to flocks of AMERICAN WHITE PELICANS migrating under the blue blue sky. A few other raptor tallies for the day: 5 ROUGH-LEGGED HAWKS, 7 GOLDEN EAGLES, 8 BALD EAGLES, and 2 PRAIRIE FALCONS. A DUSKY GROUSE along CR 62 heading to snowy Guanella Pass was a late in the day treat. David Suddjian Littleton, CO -- 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/CAGj6RooEw70rKt9p-wEdMZ569mh%3Dc6zwQaNvbPtbSV0nh1r9Og%40mail.gmail.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
