Here are a few more reports from southeast Colorado, to complement Dave Leatherman's.
A Friday evening (Dec. 5) stop at Rocky Ford State Wildlife area (Otero Co.) turned up a Winter Wren, a Mountain Chickadee, and a Western Screech-Owl. On Saturday (Dec. 6), after birding in the Oklahoma Panhandle, I stopped by Two Buttes Reservoir / State Wildlife Area (Baca Co.). The reservoir still has decent numbers of ducks, expected species as far as I could tell. Below the dam, bird numbers have dropped considerably from where they were before the mid November cold snap. The most interesting thing I saw below the dam was a porcupine. On my way to some of the lakes in Kiowa County, I, like Dave L, also developed a greater appreciation for the tumbleweed problem during my drive through Tempel Grove. The sobering sights continued as I arrived at the unfrozen but nearly birdless Kiowa County lakes. I could not see a single bird at Jett Reservoir. Neegronda Reservoir had several ducks and a bald eagle. Neesopah Reservoir had a couple of dozen ducks, 3 species total. On Sunday morning (Dec. 7), I birded the road southwest of Higbee in southeastern Otero Co, one of my favorite places to go on an unseasonably warm winter day. Mountain Bluebirds and White-crowned Sparrows were everywhere. Noisy Ladder-backed Woodpeckers were flying from cholla to cholla. One cottonwood tree hosted 5 Cassin's Finches. Rock Wrens, a Say's Phoebe, and a Lincoln's Sparrow provided some refreshing sounds of summer. Greater Roadrunners can sometimes be found in this area. Although I didn't find any yesterday, I did find two farther east along County Road J in southwestern Bent County. Before heading home, I visited Adobe Creek Reservoir (straddling the Bent - Kiowa County line). About a thousand gulls were in the area, along with a few hundred ducks and a few hundred geese. Heat waves made it hard to identify many of the birds. Although I failed to turn up rare birds, it does strike me as a place that is currently ripe for attracting one. Somehow, I managed to have the place to myself yesterday afternoon, and it was very pleasant and peaceful. David Dowell 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/8b1940a8-c33f-493a-9120-ed4ee2e75daf%40googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
