Cobirders, Saturday, I began leading a Boulder Audubon Trip to Wray (home on Sunday). We went directly east on US 36, stopping first at Last Chance where we got our first taste of the day's weird weather as fog crept in and enveloped us as we birded. We didn't see much there, so not wanting to squander whatever decent weather we might encounter, we continued east. Beyond Anton, we had several hundred Sandhill Cranes scattered along the north side of the highway over several miles, but none on the south side!
Our first major stop was at Fox Ranch. [Although that this site is a private ranch owned and operated by The Nature Conservatory and has restricted access. That being said, however, access can be requested and arranged through the TNC.] Soon after disembarking, a loud Red Crossbill started calling and flying about. Two Harris's Sparrows were by the barns and two more were in with a large group of White-crowned Sparrows. Further along we found a Field Sparrow and a group of Eastern Bluebirds. But during our stay the wind had continuously increased to the point that it was making birding unproductive. Nevertheless, we continued on to Pipit Hill by the old Bonny Reservoir. The wind here was howling and Sprague's Pipit eluded us, but there were a few Chestnut-collared Longspurs. Moving on to Wray, we crossed the stream and walked the back trail area at Stalker Lake. Winds were starting to ease back and things were pretty birdy and among our 20-some species at the spot we all had good looks at a Hermit Thrush. 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/SN1PR0301MB1648679837E9538675757793E14E0%40SN1PR0301MB1648.namprd03.prod.outlook.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
