This year has been a wet one in Colorado, attributable to the El Nina effect, I am told. So expect to find shorebirds and waterfowl in playas that fill with water only once in 10 or more years.
I have found this map of Colorado's probable playas quite useful, with its detailed county by county maps. http://pljv.org/for-habitat-partners/maps-and-data/maps-of-probable-playas/ Thanks to the "Playa Lakes Joint Venture" for this handy map. Pick a county, get out there and search for wet playas! It's a great year to contribute to citizen science by glassing some of these ephemeral aqueous basins and sending your sightings to eBIRD. Over the long term, it will be worthwhile to document what you find, and then drop by in subsequent, drier years, and peruse the progressive permutations of the panoply of 'pipers. Or if you can't get out there, you could play this trivia game: According to this map, which is the largest playa in Colorado? The largest close to a drivable road? The largest in each county? Which playas have you birded in the past? What is the definition of "playa?" What cracks open and later reseals itself at a playa? Joe Roller, Denver -- 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/CAJpZcUCaY1K%2BmgUKiT46_%3DaGz%3DUjFSpqNi90LM1u34cybZY5og%40mail.gmail.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
