Continuing the thread started by Doug, and continued by David and Joey, I went
out east of Fort Collins hoping to see how birds were coping with this weather.
Not enough sticking snow to really force small birds already here out onto
roads or odd situations like parking lots, as has been the case during late
storms in April and early May each of the previous two springs. I did not see
any longspurs, which, of course, are already in this part of the state. Not
enough migrant sparrows this far north, either. Had this storm hit one week
later, I suspect the drama this far north in CO would have been more
pronounced. What I did see that was somewhat interesting:
Crom Lake (CR31 s of CR90)
American Avocet (2) in chest-deep water, grubbing something small and black
from the muddy bottom (small snails?)
All three teal species (just a few of each)
Baird's Sandpiper (1 adult in bright breeding plumage)
Great-tailed Grackle (few males)
American Pipit (FOY for me, two on the south shore of the part west of the road)
Woods Lake (CR74 between CR27 and CR29)
Saw not a lot except the very interesting "Weed Ceremony" of Western Grebes.
Check out the BNA account of Western Grebe for more details. This is only
legal in certain states, and even in those, only in the privacy of your own
home.
Windsor Lake (town of Windsor best accessed off SR257 on Birch Street)
Flock of perhaps 100 swallows made up of Barn (50%), American Tree (25%) and
Cliff (25%). These are the first Cliff Swallows I have seen in 2015. All
swallows appeared to be getting adult midges from the water surface when they
weren't sitting bedraggled on weeds and farm equipment along the ditch north of
the nw corner of the lake.
Bonaparte's Gull (flock of perhaps 25, at times resting on the swim beach at
the sw corner of the lake, many giving their interesting calls that differ
considerably from the other bigger, white-headed gulls nearby)
Franklin's Gull (few, including some nice pink ones)
California Gull (few)
Timnath Reservoir (briefly checked the east part which comes up close to the
Weld/Larimer Countyline Road (I guess this is actually Larimer)
Western Grebe (several)
Clark's Grebe (1 FOY for me)
Dave Leatherman
Fort Collins
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