My birthday present was a day in the Park, and a lovely day it was, too. The aspens are coloring up nicely, great clouds, lovely cool early morning temperatures (32 deg), and great stars before dawn. Fun birds, too.
Daytime birding began with a series of stops along Salt Creek Road (Road 435) off Hwy 285 north of the Hwy 24 junction. I really like birding this road, and today was especially fun because of large numbers of several species, and the creekside willows were lively with warblers and sparrows. The area from 3 to 5 miles in from Hwy 285 was particularly interesting, and I wish I had more time to go further, but I wanted to get to Antero Reservoir while it was still early, so I limited my time at Salt Creek Road. But stops in the area that I did visit had 100s of *Pinyon Jays*, over 100 *Clark's Nutcrackers*, and 400+ Type 5 *Red Crossbills*. Fruitful bristlecone pines were the main attractant for these species. Also noted were several *Gray Jays*, *Am. Three-toed Woodpecker*, *Northern Goshawk*, 2 *Golden-crowned Kinglets*, 3 *Pine Grosbeaks*, *Swainson's Thrush*, 2 *MacGillivray's Warblers*, and 2 *Townsend's Warbler*. One of the *Orange-crowned Warblers* was singing repeatedly. Wilson's were common. Antero Reservoir had some very good birds, but only small numbers of shorebirds. A light morph adult *Parasitic Jaeger* was flying for several minutes along the western shore and ranged once to the northwest corner. Much of the flight was rather high up over the reservoir, and I never saw it pursue anything (there were no terns, and the gulls were mostly loafing). After I watched it for about 4 minutes I lost track of it when I looked away. I don't think it stayed. I had the impression that it had just arrived on the scene about the time I first saw it, and maybe it took a look around and kept on going? Also present were at least 3 and maybe 4 *Sabine's Gulls*. A *Clay-colored Sparrow* was near the parking area at the terminus of the north boat launch access road (that is, past the launch itself). This is a pretty good bird for Park, I think. A lone *Sandhill Crane* was in a field with cows near the beginning of the north launch access road, just in off Hwy 24 on the east side, between the access road and the Platte. Shorebirds other than avocets and Killdeer included 30 *Baird's*, 2 *Greater Yellowlegs*, 1 *Lesser Yellowlegs*, 16 *Western Sandpipers*, 7 *Least*, 53 peep sp., and 5 *Wilson's Phalaropes*. No unusual ducks. Raptors included 1 *Ferruginous Hawk*, 2 *Nor. Harriers*, 1 *Peregrine *and two *Prairies*. 3 *Common Nighthawks* feeding over the water were perhaps late for Park. >From there I went down Hwy 9 to Warmer Gulch WMA near the south county line. True to its name, it was pretty warm there and bird activity was reduced. Highlights were 8 *Bushtits*, 4 *Dusky Grouse*, and a *Canyon Wren*. *Western Scrub-Jays* and *Spotted Towhees* were noted, both being generally limited to this region of the county in association with the Gambel oaks near the south county line. Driving down Hwy 9, a *Lewis's Woodpecker* was in Ponderosa pines not far south of Hartsel. I arrived at Eleven Mile Reservoir shortly after noon and viewed the whole lake from various points along the southwest shoreline. Highlights were 2 *Sabine's Gulls *(near islands at mid-lake), 3 or 4 *Black Terns*, 1 *Common Tern* and 1 *Forster's Tern* (no jaegers evident). Coot numbers were up, but not too many ducks. Ducks of interest were 1 eclipse male *Common Goldeneye*, and 1 alternate male *Bufflehead*. Few shorebirds (low numbers of Avocet, Baird's, snipe). The terns and most of the waterfowl were near the northwest corner. *Western Grebes* were still tending begging young. I did not look at Spinney, since it was dullsville 2 weeks ago, but I probably should have. Tarryall Reservoir had the continuing summering male *Common Goldeneye* and male *Ring-necked Duck*, as well as 2 "new" female *Ring-necked Ducks*. 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/CAGj6RoqyhdwAPEohCF-YFsc9xRZ3AUQNk0p5oeB1eyUYx8bkRg%40mail.gmail.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
