Hi Everyone-
Today 9/6 I did a loop that included Last Chance (Washington Co), Jackson Reservoir (Morgan Co), Crow Valley (Weld Co), and Grandview Cemetery (Larimer Co). I was at Last Chance at dawn. There was a short burst of activity when the sun hit the trees, including an American Redstart, a Western Tanager, a few Clay-colored Sparrows, and two Red-breasted Nuthatches. Jackson Reservoir is still very full. Along CO-144 about 0.3 miles west of MP 20 (there's a sharp turn and a cluster of speed limit signs), I saw a young Red-headed Woodpecker working on a fencepost. The reservoir itself had a few Forster's Terns, and there were Spotted Sandpipers at the north end. North of Jackson Reservoir, MCR 4 turns into WCR 105. A mile or so north of WCR 80, the road goes through a rough patch, with water on both sides. I can see that this used to be a quagmire. The water is full of shorebirds, including a Buff-breasted Sandpiper, 6 Stilt Sandpipers, 6 Baird's Sandpipers, 4 Least Sandpipers, 8 American Avocets, and 10 or so Wilson's Phalaropes. This road is very busy with trucks going to and from the oil fields, so be careful where you park. The Buff-breasted liked to stand at the edge of the weeds on the west side of the road, and didn't flush even with the trucks jaking right next to it. At Crow Valley, at the north end I saw a Western Wood-Pewee perched next to a wood-pewee that sure looked like an Eastern, although it never called for me. It had a pastel green breast with no sign of vesting, orange lower mandible, and noticeably greenish back. The Western seems to have established dominance here, so there was no tussling going on. A Western Tanager was at the north end, a Dusky Flycatcher was in the farm museum area, and a Hammond's Flycatcher was in the trees south of the group picnic area. One of the flickers looks like it's mostly Yellow-shafted. Grandview Cemetery in Ft Collins was noisy with young Red Crossbills. There sure are a lot of them in the spruces in the northwest side. I also saw one adult male and one adult female while I was there. I thought I noticed both type 2 and type 5. Lots of Pine Siskins and Red-breasted Nuthatches. Mark Miller Longmont, 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/002601cfca28%246937f050%243ba7d0f0%24%40gmail.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
