I have been down here since 4/18. The weather has been odd, to say the least,
as is the tree leafing-out/insect situation. It was been fairly cool this
whole visit, with the highest temps being just barely over 80. That's frigid
for Lamar. It has been blustery at times but not too bad. The wind has been
out of the east mostly, sometimes out of the south. Then the current front
hit, the temps dropped even more and the winds have been out of the north or
northeast.
Most of the good birds have been posted on COBIRDS (although not necessarily on
the RBA for some reason).
Best bird was probably the Kentucky Warbler found by Jeannie Mitchell and Aaron
Shipe on 4/23 at the north end of LCC. It was a one-day wonder and seen by
only a few people. Other birds at LCC have been White-eyed Vireo reported by
Brandon Percival, although I am not sure if he was the finder or whether it was
Mark P. or Glenn W. This was first found yesterday and refound this morning by
Brandon, although I have not been able to find it in hours of searching on both
days. Oh well. It was in Russian-olives between the pump house and a little
further south on the east side of the road opposite the tennis courts/shop
building.
Other birds at LCC have been adult Broad-winged Hawk for the last three days,
immature Cooper's Hawk for the last several days, Wilson's Warbler male,
Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Northern Cardinal (at least 2 pairs), nesting Red-bellied
Woodpeckers, Wood Ducks, Lincoln's Sparrow, Nashville Warbler (Cole Wild with
Quetzal Tour), and not a lot else. In other words, the LCC woods has been
super quiet with a very few marquis birds, changing a bit each day. The woods
DOES have a few ticks, so check yourself after sundown in places where the sun
did not shine before it set. Woodhouse Toads and Leopard Frogs (Northern, I
think?) are wailing and croaking, respectively, along the shore of Willow Creek
(and at Thurston Res).
Thurston Reservoir north of town has been good for waterfowl with lots of
expected ducks (including a leucistic Redhead, probably the same one reported
by Mark P. weeks (months?) ago), Sora, Peregrine Falcon, Black-necked Stilts,
Snowy Egret (4/20 only), a few ibis, Willet (4/19), and Swamp Sparrow (4/20 at
the end of the south side boat ramp). Today I had several FOY Bank Swallows
over the water getting midges in the cold rain.
Fairmount Cemetery has a large number of Pine Siskins and I suspect they will
nest for one cycle and then head to the mountains for cycle #2. Currently they
are feasting on dandelion seed heads (along with a lot of other birds like
Chipping Sparrows, American Goldfinches, Lesser Goldfinches, House Finches,
White-crowned Sparrows, and House Sparrows). One Clay-colored Sparrow on 4/24
was pretty early. So far no Summer Tanagers, grosbeaks or buntings, although a
Rose-breasted Grosbeak and Indigo Bunting have shown up south of town in a
private farmyard.
The Great Plains Reservoirs north of town west of US287 that have water are
good for waterfowl and shorebirds but most are private. Lots of eBird reports
from these lakes, some without permission. Not cool here, or anywhere else.
At Sweetwater today I had at least 10 Snowy Plovers, a few Semipalmated
Plovers, and a FOY Stilt Sandpiper. This lake has also had two hybrid ducks,
which I guess in an of themselves makes this location of interest. Not sure
what the parentage of these two birds is for sure, but it looks like shoveler
might be part of both. Along the lane leading from the county road to the west
(39.5?) east to the res, we had a Field Sparrow and Brewer's Sparrow the other
day, and there were a couple Savannah Sparrows today.
At Tempel Grove, as others have inputted to eBird, there are Harris's Sparrows,
White-throated Sparrows (not seen today by me), Northern Parula (male),
Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Wild Turkey, Orange-crowned Warblers, lots of
Yellow-rumped Warblers, a Spotted Towhee singing a lot like an Eastern today,
Cooper's Hawk, not a lot else (for ex., no thrushes). West of the road seems
to be better. Mr. Tempel and his help have done an amazing job of digging out
from the tumbleweed blizzard of last winter but still tons of them piled up in
tough to clean up places. The seeds of tumbleweed (Russian Thistle), seem to
be a major attraction for sparrows at present.
At North Gateway Park east of the Cow Palace in north Lamar, and off-limits
gravel ponds to the east, today were FOY Forster's Terns (at least 4), and a
fly-over adult, breeding Laughing Gull. Bank Swallows here, too, along with a
few Eared Grebes.
Per the introductory mention of the leafing out situation, last autumn's sudden
temperature drop killed a lot of plants up and down the eastern plains,
including here, especially shrubs. The leafing out of trees and shrubs that
survived has been odd. Some things looks great, like hackberry, some
cottonwoods, some elms. Other trees look like they struggled to leaf out, got
caught on the wrong side of a late March freeze, ran back in their hole for
three weeks, and now look almost dead (but most are not). Will be interesting
to see how insects and insectivorous migrant birds use various species of
trees, if and when they get here.
Dave Leatherman
Fort Collins
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