Hi all, After my initial sighting of the common ground dove yesterday at Navajo State Park, I was unable to relocate it even after several hours of searching. I'm still kicking myself for not thinking of taking even a crappy iPhone photo for documentation's sake (even that, from the very good vantage point I had, might have been reasonably good), and instead running off to my car to get my DSLR for what I hoped would be a more convincing shot. I did however take good notes and write observation details down shortly after my sighting so that I would at least try to submit a sight record report to the CBRC as soon as I am able, probably after field season ends in mid-July. I know that this species is a really special one for this part of the state, so I do want to contribute what I can.
My main interest in visiting Navajo was merely to learn more about and appreciate a different habitat in Archuleta County than what I've been doing my transect surveys in (mixed conifer forest above 8000') and not really to search for rarities per se. I do want to thank Steve Mlodinow for mentioning his visit a few weeks ago to Navajo SP - that inspired me to make this mid day sidetrip that I did. I actually don't have all that much time to visit all the great sites on the Colorado birding Trail, and even when I do, it's usually at inopportune times like the middle of the afternoon. Nevertheless, it didn't take long for me to see just how great Navajo State Park is for birding for all the reasons Steve mentioned, and how rich this habitat is even on a mid -June late afternoon. For what it's worth, I was able to relocate the blue grosbeak and the Cassin's kingbirds found by Steve Mlodinow a few weeks ago. There also was a pair of black phoebes sally-hunting by the footbridge. Eric DeFonso Near the Archuleta/La Plata county line Sent from the Aether -- 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/CB633340-F83B-4A2A-87B8-E468618D9757%40gmail.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
