[sent by mistake before I was done]
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.
Many breeding season migrants were become variously uncommon to fairly
numerous in Park, in addition to the few that were already numerous back in
early May: Mourning Dove, Broad-tailed Hummer, Red-naped Sapsucker, Western
Wood-Pewee, Dusky and Cordilleran Flycatchers, Plumbeous Vireo, Warbling
Vireo, the common species of swallows, House Wren, Hermit Thrush (nice
song), Swainson's Thrush, Yellow Warbler, Wilson's Warbler, Green-tailed
Towhee, Mountain White-crowned Sparrow, Black-headed Grosbeak, Western
Tanager. I was especially impressed with how many Broad-tailed Hummers were
in wide open areas without even trees.
May 19
The large reservoirs all had a great reduction in waterbirds since early
May, 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, and the gull count on that side 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 near Lake George at CR 425, BLUE-GRAY
GNATCATCHER at CR 90, NOR. PYGMY-OWL at Forest Service Road 860 off CR 90,
and RED CROSSBILLS at CR 108.
May 20
There is some rather pleasant birding in the areas of CR 100, 59, 104 and
such. CR 100 had a NOR. PYGMY-OWL, an apparent pair of BAND-TAILED PIGEONS,
4 PINYON JAYS and lots more. A NORTHERN GOSHAWK was calling at Ranger
Station Road, and 2 LESSER GOLDFINCHES there were Park rarities. CR 59 had
the only FOX SPARROW I've had so far in Park, singing 4.0 miles from Hwy
102. This same general area also had PINE GROSBEAK and RED CROSSBILL.
Guffey had 18 PINYON JAYS (mostly at feeders, plus 9 more close to town at
CR 122), a 1st year ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK, the only OLIVE-SIDED FLYCATCHER
for the trip.
Working generally south of Guffey on CR 104 to the county line there were
quite a few more PINYON JAYS, and I started to encounter the locally
distributed Park CO species like SPOTTED TOWHEE (fairly common in areas
with oaks), and WESTERN SCRUB-JAY (fairly uncommon in the same areas). Some
of these areas are adjacent to CR 104 near the county line, and there is a
BLM trail 5750 that climbs through this habitat to a ridge beginning on the
west side of CR 104 about 0.4 mile from the county line (entering into
Fremont). I was suspecting I might encounter some other Park local
specialties in this area, and had a few in mind. Top among these was
VIRGINIA'S WARBLER, which I found to be fairly well represented in the oak
habitats. I found 10-12 Virginia's, mostly singing males, and one apparent
pair. They went at least as high as 9,200' elevation. Another bird I
thought I might find, based on the presence of pinyon pines (no juniper
here), was GRAY FLYCATCHER. Indeed, one was singing on the east side of CR
104 on the slope across from the BLM trailhead, and 1 was along the trail
on the ridge west of CR 104. A surprise was a BLUE JAY that flew from the
ridge down toward CR 104 in Park about 200 m N of the Fremont line! Other
birds of note along the BLM trail were 1 LAZULI BUNTING, 1 BLUE-GRAY
GNATCATCHER, and 1 NOR. PYGMY-OWL (Fremont).
>From there I went a short way south into Fremont Co along CR 275A and
Highway 9 encountering some more VIRGINIA'S WARBLERS, another GRAY
FLYCATCHER and a BULLOCK'S ORIOLE.
Returning to Park I tried Warmer Gulch Wildlife Management Area, off Hwy 9
less than a mile north of the county line. This area (signed as closed for
the season after May 31) has access to more oak/pinyon habitat and some
great nice pine forest. Warmer produced a CANYON WREN (seemingly rare in
Park), lots of ROCK WRENS (not rare), 3 more VIRGINIA'S WARBLERS, 4 GRAY
FLYCATCHERS (including a possible pair), and NOR. PYGMY-OWL. Heading north
along Hwy 9 I found a BULLOCK'S ORIOLE along a creek at a crossing about
3.5 miles from the CR 102 junction, with a MACGILLIVRAY'S WARBLER in the
same area.
Wrapping up this long report, a VEERY sang 6 times from willow thickets at
beaver ponds along Hoosier Creek at CR 58, in the north part of the county
north of Kenosha Pass at about 9725' elev. It was the first time my west
coast ears had ever heard a Veery sing! Two SWAINSON'S THRUSHES were in the
same area, silent. I've heard 1000s of those singing, but I'm looking
forward to my first CO song from the SWTH.
David Suddjian
Littleton, CO
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