Yesterday I roamed around eastern Arapahoe County to scout for an upcoming DFO Big Month trip, with minor ventures into Adams and very minor poking into Elbert. There was nothing of special note in those areas, so I'll focus on Arapahoe.
Migrants were only moderately diverse and not numerous. But a highlight was a male *Chestnut-sided Warbler* at Richmil Ranch Open Space in the trees at the parking lot. The only other "eastern" warbler for the day was a *Northern Waterthrush *at Kiowa Creek at County Line Road. Other landbird migrants included *Dusky Flycatcher*, *Warbling Vireo*, *Swainson's Thrush*, *Gray Catbird*, *Yellow Warbler*, *Wilson's Warbler*, *Yellow-breasted Chat*, *Western Tanager*, *Black-headed Grosbeak*, *Blue Grosbeak*, *Lazuli Bunting*, *Chipping*, *Brewer's*, *Lincoln's*, and *White-crowned Sparrows*, *Bullock's Oriole* and a few others. Except for the Yellow Warbler, Chipping Sparrow and Bullock's Oriole, most of these were just represented by 1-2 individuals. Without searching too much I found 6 *Red-headed Woodpeckers* along the Hwy 40 corridor from Peoria Road to the Deer Trail area, and 3 more were close to the Elbert County line. One other was in Adams County. A singing *Orchard Oriole* was at CR 241. Single *Grasshopper Sparrows *at CR 245 and CR 34 (more sparse than I expected). A prairie dog town along CR 169 at 1.5 miles south of Hwy 36 had a *Burrowing Owl *and a pair of *Northern Harriers*, and I saw a *Mountain Plover* flying near the north end of CR 169. A pair of *Mountain Bluebirds* along CR 185 near the Elbert line were perhaps of some note for Arapahoe after the main migration, but not too far from breeding sites in Elbert. All playas were completely dry. The was one pond I was able to view that had water was along Wall Road, with *Mallard*, *Nor. Pintail* and *Eared Grebe*. These were nearly the only waterbirds for the day not counting a few Mallards here and there. The only other agua connection were three *White Pelicans* circling high over. Last week I reported on numbers of the three kingbird species tallied in Elbert on 5/12. The parallel tallies for this Arapahoe trip were 227 *Western Kingbird* (87%), 29 *Cassin's* (11%), and 4 *Eastern* (2%). The corresponding percentages from the 5/12 Elbert birding were 82%, 16% and 1%. And while I'm at it, tallies of a few other prairie birds from the areas were I kept counts were 8 *Loggerhead Shrikes*, 486 *Horned Larks* and 1355 *Lark Buntings*. David Suddjian Ken Caryl Valley 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 [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/CAGj6Rors0-p9Nr1WBouHDEqsByNfRD4YJW4v%2BcUmvUwPUpM%3DjA%40mail.gmail.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
