Sorry for the slow reporting, but I have had no time to pull this together.
I spent May 19 and 20 exploring in Park County, ranging just a tiny bit
across the line into Fremont on May 20. I focused mostly on the southern
1/4 of Park, hitting a few spots in the north briefly at the end of May 20.
There were many notable discoveries in terms of interesting birds and
simply documenting what is normal there in that underbirded region. For
example, much of the county is markedly unrepresented in eBird. My approach
is to make a series of stops along many roads regardless of apparent
interest, to cover known special habitats, and to discover new areas of
habitat that is limited in the county. An example of this latter situation
is slopes of scrub oak and oak with pinyon pine that seem to be localized
near the central area of the southern county line, where the habitat -
limited in Park - extends over the nine from Fremont. Anyway, here are some
the birds of note and other comments.
May 19
The large reservoirs all had a great reduction in waterbirds, with most of
the early spring waterfowl having moved on and only smallish numbers
remaining. The area southwest of the south boat launch at Antero and the
area off Cross Creek Campground at Eleven Mile were the best for lingering
ducks. Spinney had hardly any at all. The breeding colony on the island at
Eleven Mile between Coyote Ridge and Witchers Cove had CALIFORNIA GULLS
settling in on 100s of nests. I only looked at one side of the island, but
the gull count was over 1000. A good find walking from the parking area at
Coyote Ridge (near north boat launch of Eleven Mile) was 3 CLAY-COLORED
SPARROWS that offered great views. A COMMON LOON was on the lake there.
>From the Cross Creek area of Eleven Mile I saw a large flock of about 135
alternate RED-NECKED PHALAROPES on the water ('just' 59 Wilson's), 8
alternate SANDERLINGS, 1 BLACK-NECKED STILT, 3 LONG-BILLED DOWITCHERS, 1
1st cycle BONAPARTE'S GULL, and 3 adult FORSTER'S TERNS.
At Antero it looked like AM. WHITE PELICANS were likely nesting on one
distant island (but too far off to be certain). The best birding was near
the south boat launch, and especially the shore and waters southeast of
there. This area had 1 COMMON TERN, 8 FORSTER'S TERNS, 1 partial alternate
BLACK-BELLIED PLOVER, 1 alternate STILT SANDPIPER, 6 WILLETS, 2 LONG-BILLED
CURLEWS, 4 MAARBLED GODWITS, 12 LB DOWITCHERS, 12 CLARK'S GREBES, 1
apparent hybrid WESTERN X CLARK'S, and 1 RED-NECKED PHALAROPE. 5 SAVANNAH
SPARROWS were in a loose ground near the shoreline.
Buffalo Creek Reservoir (Road 433 of Hwy 285 north of the Hwy 24 junction)
had an alternate BLACK TERN and a GREAT EGRET.
Rounding out the lake viewing for me on this trip, Lake George had 3
calling SORAS, 3 BANK SWALLOWS among 100s of others, and 4 LARK SPARROWS.
Other notable landbirds this date: 2 more CLAY-COLORED SPARROWS at County
Road (CR) 53 20.0 miles from Hwy 9; 2 LEWIS'S WOODPECKERS flying over CR 90
at 1.9 miles from the CR 92 junction and 1 LEWIS'S at CR 53 at 23.7 miles
from Hwy 9 (the former site is ponderosa forst, while the latter is wide
open grassland with forest in the distance (the bird working a fence line
with log fenceposts)); LAZULI BUNTING
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