I enjoyed another lovely day in the Park yesterday, focusing mostly on the southern tier of the county. Stops in the Lake George region had three *Northern Pygmy-Owls* in Ponderosa forest. The species is quite regular in the southeast at part of the county. Lots and lots of of* Red Crossbills* in areas with good cone crops in the Lake George region. Overwhelmingly Type 2 were noted this date, but Type 5 in a few spots and Type 4 in one spot. Open water along the South Platte near Lake George had some diving ducks, and a *Belted Kingfisher* at the downstream side of town was my first in Park County in about 2 months. *American Robins* had returned to the area in small numbers. Lake George itself is frozen.
At CR 98 near CR 61 I watched a movement of *Clark's Nutcrackers *and *Steller's Jays* as they traversed along a slope, totaling a nice 44 Clark's and 146 Steller's. The movement lasted only 3 minutes. First none, then a flow of birds, then nothing again. Working County Roads 403, 100 and 71 I began to encounter many *Mountain Bluebirds*. Some were flocks and some were pairs or singles. I had over 350 for the day. And just one *Western Bluebird* - a slightly early male along CR 71. A male *Williamson's Sapsucker* along CR 100 was very early! A few *Pinyon Jays* were along CR 411. CR 71 also had my first *Loggerhead Shrike* of the season and my first* Killdeer *in Park County since last fall. The shrike looked like it was hunting bluebirds! Areas of Gambel oak and pinyon pine along CR 104 near the county line has some *Western Scrub-Jays*, A *Northern Goshawk* was over the Park / Fremont line at CR 104, and nearby Highway 9 had another *Loggerhead Shrike* in Fremont just south of Park. Along Highway 59 climbs over a ridge between Saddle Mountain and Thirtynine Mile Mountain and passes through spruce/fir forest and here I had a delightful pair of *Gray Jays *and an *Am. Three-toed Woodpecker*. The Gray Jays responded to my pygmy-owl imitation by coming in very close, and one seemed to be giving own funky version of a pygmy-owl call! The Gray Jays occupied a gap in eBird occurrences for that part of the county, and I'll have to check if I' had the Three-toed in that area before... don't think so. Eleven Mile Reservoir was all frozen except for a small area at the northwest corner at the South Platte inlet. This area had a nice assortment of waterbirds, including 11 species of ducks, with 1 *Long-tailed Duck* and 4 *Greater Scaup* as the highlights. A *Double-crested Cormorant* was early, and a pile of gulls at the ice edge included 128 *California*, 1 *Herring* and 2 *Ring-billed*. An adult *Peregrine Falcon* was there, too. The ice-covered central part of the lake had 1 *Great Blue Heron* standing on a little islet, marooned in a sea of white...waiting, waiting. An almost tardy *Northern Shrike* was along CR 59 near Hartsel. It appeared to be hunting Horned Larks. A male *Am. Kestrel *along Hwy 285 near Buffalo Creek was the only one I saw, and was likely the same arrival I noted on Feb 24. Three *Rough-legged Hawks *were along Hwy 24 near Antero Reservoir, and one was near Jefferson. Late afternoon stops at Fairplay and Jefferson had a handful of *Rosy-Finches *at the former, and a better flock at the latter. 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/CAGj6RoqRo1zVNXrgK%3DapqtThSGxFN5ULNG5%3DOEZpaG-qkCV0vQ%40mail.gmail.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
