I birded southeastern CO from January 3rd thru the 9th, leaving this morning
the 10th.
SUMMARY OF VIRTUAL LAMAR CBC CIRCLE (all Prowers except for sliver of Bent at
"town" of Prowers/Ark River on Bent CR34.5):
LCC
Only got down there once and saw 2 male and 1 female Northern Cardinals; 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker, 1 Hairy Woodpecker, several Cedar Waxwings. I missed
the reported Brown Thrasher (very likely lurking in one of the thickets
somewhere), and White-throated Sparrow. Harris's Sparrow, also reported in
late December, eluded detection.
Willow Creek Park (1 adult male and 1 juvenile Yellow-bellied Sapsucker in
the northwest corner of the park on the west side of Willow Creek just south of
the community swimming pool, in pines mostly, but they occasionally retreat to
Siberian elms and a honeylocust. The juvenile seems to like the pines across
the street (east of) 1305/1305A Parkview Street. Both can be tough to detect
if not actively working sap wells or giving an occasional "mew" call).
Riverside Cemetery (not much here, but there is an open water ditch on the
north side of the field north of the cemetery which is lined with berry-laden
junipers. Janeal Thompson and I found 59 Yellow-rumped Warblers in these
junipers the other day, along with hundreds of robins, about a half dozen
Mourning Doves, an attendant Merlin, and an unidentified accipiter that was
probably a Cooper's.
Fairmount Cemetery (Townsend's Solitaire). I also think I caught a glimpse of
a Common Grackle at a feeder along the west side of Memorial Drive just across
from the northwest corner of the cemetery.
Hospital complex east of Memorial Drive
Eastern Bluebird (at least 3, along with zillions of robins in Russian-olives)
Arkansas River e of US287/US50 just northeast of the Cow Palace Motel (Wilson's
Snipe, Spotted Towhee, Killdeer, Great Blue Heron, American Coots, huge flock
of thousands of American Crows stream over this area starting about 2:30pm
heading sw, probably to the big feedlot west of town)
Walmart/Dollar General stores (usually Great-tailed Grackles can be found in
the parking lots)
Willow Valley Subdivision (at private residence, Ruby-crowned Kinglet,
Red-breasted and White-breasted (eastern) Nuthatch, Yellow-rumped Warbler,
Purple Finch (female eastern), Red-bellied Woodpecker, White-winged and
Cassiar's Dark-eyed Junco, Brown Creeper, White-winged Dove).
Lots of Scaled Quail around the houses at the east end of Austin Drive east of
Memorial Drive north of Fairmount Cemetery.
All the water in the Lamar area except the Arkansas River is frozen. There is
a huge group of geese (all five expected species) north of the train
stop/collection of homes called Carlton several miles east of Lamar (about half
way between Lamar and Granada) along US50. Go north on Prowers CR19 about half
a mile and look west into the corn stubble fields. I would estimate over
10,000 birds, about an even mix of "White" and "White-cheeked". Seeing this
many dark geese, mostly Lesser Canadas, in Prowers County is unusual.
Red-tails are the dominant buteo in the Lamar area, including a young
Rufous morph that had me going until Jerry Liguori and Steve Mlodinow
threw water on the fire. Ferruginous Hawks are a distant second in the
area this winter. I saw very few Rough-legs this visit until I got up
between Hugo and Limon on US287. Fair number of both Bald and Golden
Eagles around, especially northeast of town along the river and where
the big high poles occur near p-dog towns, respectively. Saw at least 3
different Merlins near Lamar, lots of harriers, one sharpie, no Prairie
Falcons, no Cooper's (for sure). Be advised, there is a falconer who
runs a Peregrine Falcon southeast of town (near the city wind turbines)
along CR12.
SUMMARY OF ELSEWHERE:
South of Carlton on Prowers CRs 19 and 21: lots of Lapland Longspurs and the
one Ladderbacked Woodpecker per post of a few days ago
Cottonwood Canyon (Baca mostly, with a sliver of Las Animas) had an unusual 9
Steller's Jays on 1/8, along with Canyon Wrens, Bewick's Wren, Western
Scrub-Jay. I struck out on things present in December there, like Winter Wren
and Golden-crowned Kinglet.
Carrizo Canyon Picnic Area (Baca) - not a lot, 1 Bewick's Wren, a solitaire.
No doubt I missed some things that spishing and tapes would have produced.
Good luck figuring out the ravens along US287 south of Lamar to Road M south of
Springfield and west to Carrizo Creek Picnic Area/Cottonwood Canyon. I am sure
both Common and Chihuahuan are represented but would not want to wager my
pension of the ID of any one particular individual.
Along the outlet canal below the John Martin Res dam (Bent), a female
Ladder-backed Woodpecker persists in the fire-stressed tamarisks near the
spillway. Missed the roadrunner near Lake Hasty that was there for the CBC and
seen recently by Duane Nelson.
Shrikes in southeastern CO this winter seem to be about 75% Loggerhead, with
only a few Northerns. In the past I have sensed the normal mix to be about
50-50.
Porcupines have been below the dam at Two Buttes for decades, but I've never
seen 4 like were present this past visit. It appeared they were eating the
bark of cottonwood, something I don't remember seeing before. Normal, or
desperation?
As is the case throughout much of eastern CO, I fear many of the trees suffered
damage from the late fall polar vortex cold snap. For example, at LCC, we saw
the ground littered with frozen-off cottonwood buds that would have produced
next spring's crop of leaves. I suspect many, many trees are dead or suffered
heavy crown dieback. We shall see come budbreak what kind of cards were dealt.
That area down there just can't seem to buy a break from the elements.
Northwest of Kit Carson on US287 today I had a roadkilled Barn Owl at mp441
(Cheyenne), one of the few that overwinter on the eastern plains.
I came home from this visit with 87 bird species, which, given the shortage of
water (no gulls, grebes, loons, very few ducks), is a respectable total.
Dave Leatherman
Fort Collins
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