What an incredible find, Laura, and a crazy chase! I arrived at Prince Lake #2 later than I wanted (blame the microbreweries), and just missed seeing the bird by about 10 minutes according to several happy birders. I drove aimlessly north without luck, trying to turn Starlings in to black-and-white flycatchers. Pieplow soon posted that the bird was being seen off of Carbonate Lane. I put the car in to afterburner, set up my scope, but alas the birds were mere Magpies. Apparently I missed the bird (again) by about 1 minute. Never fun being the sucker who just misses a MEGA. Bird was reported heading back towards Prince Lake #2, so I kicked the tires and lit the fire, SR-71 style, mach 3.1 this time back to the lake. Saw Aaron Shipe and Frank Farrell (thanks, guys!) up ahead; they looked like they had something. They soon waved to me that they had the bird! Despite rapidly diminishing daylight, the bird was still active, bouncing from branch-to-branch, and we managed a salvo of photos before this long-tailed beauty headed south/southwest. An epic chase I won't soon forget!
Adam Vesely Thornton, CO On Sunday, October 21, 2018 at 7:48:03 PM UTC-6, William Kaempfer wrote: > > With these simple words at 2:49 p.m., Laura Steadman made lots of people > happy this afternoon: > > > > “While looking at the stilt sandpiper and plover (both still present), > happened to catch site of a fork-tailed flycatcher on the western shore. > Currently viewing.” > > > > It takes three things to make real birding news—finding a great bird, > identifying that great bird, and getting the word out. Laura had the > hat-trick today. Well, it takes a great bird, too, I guess. After a > frustrating, one-observer report of Fork-tailed Flycatcher in mid-September > that, I believe, was a first state record for Colorado, this was a species > that was on a lot of our minds. A bird to dream about, with its snappy > black and white body, and that long, long, long tail. Perhaps the only > austral migrant (breeds south migrates north and sometimes gets to North > America) semi-regularly seen in the US, this is a bird of interest anywhere > north of Mexico. I think it is even the story bird behind the cover of > John Vanderpoel’s soon to be published recounting of his North American Big > Year in 2011, *Full Chase Mode*. And chase we did. > > > > I made it to Prince #2 at about 3:15 p.m., and there were already 8 other > birders present. It took a little while to re-find the bird, but we slowly > starting thinking that the best strategy might be to walk out on the former > County Road 111 in order to be below the dam for best viewing > opportunities.. After Peter Burke saw it flying somewhere off to the north > of Prince #2, we all began walking that way; groups of us, handfuls of us, > dozens of us, scores of us, hundreds of us. Trying to count how many > birders were there was like trying to count the number of Western Grebes > currently on Union Reservoir, a little bit to the northwest. There was > Loch Kilpatrick, and there Mark Chavez. Oh, and Rachel Hopper, and Carl > Bendorf, and Bill Schmoker, and Gwen Moore, and Joey Kellner, and Glenn > Walbeck, and on and on. Steve Larson and Edie Israel were there, and they > fly out South Africa at 3:00 a.m. Monday morning! I bet even the > Widowbirds down there won’t be as thrilling. > > > > This is not the first time modest, little Prince Lake #2 in eastern > Boulder County has made birding news. Way back on October 26, 1975, > then-Boulder birder Bruce Webb found what I believe to be the first state > record of Sharp-tailed Sandpiper at Prince #2. This bird elicited the > famous comment from Colorado birding icon, Harold Holt, “It isn’t a > Sharp-tailed Sandpiper until the Colorado Bird Records Committee says it is > a Sharp-tailed Sandpiper”. (fide, Peter Gent). Hey—another great bird > during the last 10 days of October. And the year before that, what must > have been the first state record of Baird’s Sparrow on, wait for this, > October 29, 1974. Prince #2 has also had Red Phalarope, Iceland (Iceland) > Gull, and Eurasian Wigeon, and just over the hill at Prince #1 there is > still a Yellow-billed Loon somewhere at the bottom of the pond, but that’s > a different story. > > > > Then last week’s wind-focused fallout brought American Golden Plovers to > us, all over the Front Range--but importantly to this story, to Prince #2. > A couple of plovers made themselves easy to see in the soft, nourishing mud > along the south shore of the small agriculture reservoir, and many went to > Prince #2 for their year, state, life, county, or whatever AGPL. David > Waltman notes that this was the start of our own Patagonia Roadside Rest > stop phenomenon. Those plovers brought Laura Steadman out at 2:48 this > afternoon. Well, if the truth be told, I stopped at Prince #2 at 9:55 this > morning. So, the Fork-tailed Flycatcher must have arrived between 9:55 and > 2:48 (insert smiley face here). > > > > Thanks, Laura from 100 Colorado birders, and then some. And, somebody > remember to go out there at the end of next October. > > > > 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/34fce9f3-781f-4cc2-9770-32b145c09058%40googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
