John Vanderpoel and I teamed up to spend the day birding in Weld and Morgan Counties today. Conditions were "wonderful"-cold, misty at time and almost always overcast with east winds which at time drove the wind-chills well into the sub-32 range. We started birding (or at least I started our list) at 7:30 at Norma's Grove (WCR 100 x 57) and ended at Andrick Ponds near Orchard at about 7:00 p.m. In between we tallied 118 species many of which sent me to the courts of the eBird flags.
Norma's Grove started the day of the Swainson's Thrushes with over 4 dozen, but a Hermit and a Gray-cheeked didn't get overlooked. Gray and Dusky Flycatchers, Green-tailed Towhee, Chipping, Lincoln's and Clay-colored Sparrows were present, but as would the trend of the day, very few warblers (only one each Wilson's and Yellow). We then drove WCR 96 to get to WCR 77 and Crow Valley Campground. WCR 96 had only a few McCown's Longspurs, but there was a Willow Flycatcher along the road at one point (near the intersection with WCR 67. Crow Valley was open, but more flooded than I've seen it in over 30 years-way, way more than the "big flood" of a few years back when you couldn't cross the creek. Now you shouldn't even thing about getting near the creek and the entire west side of the campground is pretty much underwater. But it is open. A WC Sheriff's (or Provost's, as I like to call them) car came through to check conditions and didn't tell any of the 20 or so people in the campground to clear out. Swainson's Thrushes, which are always present in large numbers at CVCG in late May out did themselves. Every time you looked down there were 6-10 in view. A Veery was a nice alternative at one point. We also had a Willow Flycatcher, but very few warblers. In Briggsdale we had perhaps our rarest bird of the day, a Lesser Goldfinch in a flock of siskin and House Finches. Mountain Plover was at the east edge of town. We continued east first on CO 14 then on WCR 86 where we had a Peregrine Falcon and a second summer Golden Eagle along with a few longspurs of both breeding kinds. At Stoneham, we turned south. Sadly the Stoneham Playa is close to dry and birdless, but not so the Morgan County Playas at JJ, II and HH starting at SR 71 and heading southwest. My advice right now-don't bother with a trip to points east like Red Lion; these playas will be one of your best birding experiences of the spring. Get out there tomorrow if you have the chance. Fifteen species each of ducks and shorebirds were present including two beautiful breeding plumaged Black-bellied Plovers, one Whimbrel, a small handful of Red-necked Phalaropes in the several score Wilson's, Stilt, Least, Baird's and Semi-palmated Sandpipers. The elms at the west end of the HH playa had some interesting stuff including Western Wood Pewees. Our last stop was in the Jackson/Andrick area. The large surface of Jackson probably had more interesting things on it than it yielded up in the wind, but there was a Caspian Tern flying over the surface. In the little Andrick pond right before the State Park entrance there was an American Bittern standing up in the open for us. The woods on the west side of the reservoir were somewhat sheltered, and consequently very birdy including a Northern Parula and an Orchard Oriole. Bill Kaempfer Boulder -- 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/CO2PR03MB21983E60A38C266AB564F380E1760%40CO2PR03MB2198.namprd03.prod.outlook.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
