Alec Hopping and I birded around, mostly Elbert Co yesterday, with a little dip into El Paso and short swing into Lincoln.
Few highlights: In the Ponderosa pines east of Elizabeth (Elbert) – lots of *Western Bluebirds* (lots of juveniles), a *Calliope Hummer* at a feeder (I missed that one!), *Type 2 Red Crossbills* in a bunch of locations, a *Chipping Sparrow* feeding a cowbird fledgling at Casey Jones Park, and two *Plumbeous Vireos* counter singing off Down West Ride (that’s the road name!). On CR86, at a large pond east of Kiowa and just east of Freeze Rd (it’s an eBird hotspot), we had 8 species of shorebird, with a *Baird’s* being the best bird, plus scattered ducks and some *Double-crested cormorants*. I spotted a Tiger Salamander while zipping down the highway, which was a real highlight for us! Plenty of *Vesper* and *Lark Sparrows*, and scattered *Cassin’s Kingbirds* all over the place to the south. We didn’t see as many *Loggerhead Shrikes* as Dave Suddjian a few days ago, but we saw scattered birds here and there. In El Paso Co., we stopped at Ramah SWA. Plenty of *Lesser Yellowlegs* with a couple *Greater*, several *Solitary* and *Wilson’s Phalaropes*, a continuing *Pectoral*, 12+ *Black Terns*, and a *Peregrine Falcon* that gave the birds fits. It almost nailed an *American Avocet*, but the avocet dove into the lake to avoid being lunch. At the “park” in Ramah, we had 2 *Wilson’s *and a *Yellow* *Warbler*. Back into Elbert, we had a *Burrowing Owl* on CR 201 in a mostly plowed corn field, with scattered tall green stalks remaining. The general area was quite heavily farmed and the habitat was just odd. Maybe it was passing through. Lots of playas with water, but few to no birds. Some areas were likely recently filled by heavy storms. Tons of Lark Buntings all over the place. A *Ferruginous Hawk* was on a light post on I-70 the west edge of Limon (Lincoln Co). We tried to bird Ball Res in Elbert by Agate, but the distance was great, wind howling, and shimmer was rough. We could see ducks out there, but couldn’t tell more than that. We didn’t see much else other than a Great Blue Heron, Calif Gull, and some White-faced Ibis that landed and vanished into the weeds. We had one intergrade N Flicker just north of Ball Rez on CR170. Not a bad day considering we were back in DEN by 2:30! Good birding! Scott Somershoe 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 cobirds+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to cobirds@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/CAJmtx%2BWp%3D1Hr2JKah683HJ4zZemei%2BRBTLeBKMzhh1twt_y84w%40mail.gmail.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
