Seldom posted about (and as seldom birded?), DFO's field trip to eastern Arapahoe County yesterday ended up with a fair cross section of species, but mostly it was pretty quiet except for *Vesper Sparrows*, *Horned Larks*, and *Western Meadowlarks* along the prairie roads.
Richmil Ranch Open Space near Deer Trail was lovely with the early sun sliding in for a time before being shut out by clouds. The highlight there was a pair of *Eastern Bluebird*s that flew over us. And there were at least 31 *Blue Jays*, including flocks moving west. There was only water at one location - a small pond along Wall Road (CR 42). There we had *Blue-winged* and *Green-winged Teal*, *Ruddy Duck*, *Mallard *and *Pied-billed Grebe*... a bounty of water birds for eastern ARA in September! We enjoyed a *Cassin's Kingbird* at CR 241 just north of an abandoned ranch a short way north of CR 34, and another *Cassin's* at CR 157 (Strasburg Road) near Dorado St. Both were eating grasshoppers. No Westerns seen. At CR 169 there is a prairie dog town on the east side over a mile south of Hwy 36. Maybe there are a few more here or there, but this is the only dog town I've seen out in eastern Arapahoe. We had 3 or maybe 4 *Burrowing Owls* there. I was fairly sure I heard Lapland Longspurs flying over at two spots along CR 241, and saw the small birds flying. But it is early, I was not able to actually see any marks on the birds, and the encounters were brief. I think that is what I heard, but I'm letting it go. Migrants included: Northern Harrier (6), Say's Phoebe (4), Loggerhead Shrike (2), Barn Swallow (7), Rock Wren (2), Ruby-crowned Kinglet (1), Sage Thrasher (1), Orange-crowned Warbler (1), Audubon's Warbler (3), Wilson's Warbler (9), Clay-colored sparrow (12), Vesper Sparrow (~150), Savannah Sparrow (2), White-crowned Sparrow (8), Red-winged Blackbird (70), Brewer's Blackbird (3), Yellow-headed Blackbird (2), Pine Siskin (2). New birds for DFO's September Big Month were Burrowing Owl and Eastern Bluebird. 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/CAGj6RorD%3D6NDQE8c%3D6S_aWDkg7HVfQLTD%2BRvS9ZpcO_p584iYA%40mail.gmail.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
