All, I started out yesterday morning towards Crow Valley Campground, Weld Co. but stopped to watch large numbers of blackbirds come out of a marsh at sunrise at Weld CR60 1/2 where it bends left (North) and turns into CR37. Ribbons of Red-wings were seen before I got to the marsh and then saw ~7-8,000 Yellow-headed all perched up in the reeds, some on road sides, some leaving in groups of 200-300, etc. Lots of red-wings still in the marsh as well and tons starlings. I submitted fairly conservative numbers to eBird, but there were probably 40-50k blackbirds total. I was enjoying the sight and sunrise more than counting.
At Crow Valley, lots of turnover with migrants recently reported, but there were plenty of Wilson's Warblers and other birds to look through. I eventually saw a variety of other warblers, with *American Redstart* the best bird. I got a couple photos of a red-shafted and *yellow-shafted flicker* together. I also flushed a *barn owl* from the SW corner of the campground. List for those interested: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S25034677 I then went towards Jackson Lake SP in Morgan Co, but on CR93 I came across a large farm pond/wetland. I had 6 *red-necked phalaropes* floating around, a pair of ferrug loafing on the shore, and large numbers of sparrows in the grass on the shoreline close to the road, mostly Vesper, but also Savannah and a pile of Horned Larks. I then realized there were several *Chestnut-collared Longspurs* in the area as well, calling and flying around. I managed some horrible shots of one longspurs (in link below). A nice variety of waterfowl and some avocets were present. Hundred and hundreds of Vesper Sparrows and some Lark Sparrows on the back roads on the way to Jackson Lake SP, which was mostly a bust. Usual suspects seen on the water. One Forster's and one Black Tern were nice. Townsend's Warbler and a Hairy Woodpecker by the "swim beach" were highlights, for what that's worth. A few photos if interested: http://www.pbase.com/shoeman/colorado_fall_2015 Good birding, Scott Somershoe Littleton CO After almost 6 years of work, the Birds of Tennessee, A New Annotated Checklist is available! Amazon Link: http://www.amazon .com/Birds-Tennessee-New-Annotated-Checklist/dp/1507815751/ -- 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%2BU4ajRK2fmnd-T-JRUO8q8SJRFxZrgXSG_PF-YZEaiqCQ%40mail.gmail.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
