It seems like every summer Colorado gets a report of Sprague's Pipit, but as far as I can tell (eBird, CBRC, Colorado Birds) before today there hasn't been any documented summer records of this species which typically nests in the northern Great Plains and looks really similar to juvenile Horned Larks which are really easy to find right now. Luckily for us, we didn't have to worry about identification issues this morning as a Sprague's Pipit was singing pretty actively at a Weld County ranch that Bird Conservancy of the Rockies is monitoring for Baird's Sparrows and other grassland birds. In addition to the pipit, we found a continuing Eastern Meadowlark, baby Wilson's Phalaropes, Sora and Virginia Rails, and 9 Baird's Sparrows. I think my coworker, Matt Webb, may have audio of the Sprague's Pipit, Eastern Meadowlark, and a Baird's Sparrow or two singing at the same spot. I wonder if we will continue to see northern breeders attempting to set up territories here in Colorado like the Baird's Sparrows have done for the past 5 years. We did try playback for LeConte's Sparrow at multiple spots without hearing any. Hopefully these rarities will encourage others to keep an ear out while birding the grasslands in northeastern Colorado, especially on the Pawnee Grasslands.
We will upload media to this eBird list in case anyone wanted to see documentation: www.ebird.org/view/checklist/S58397225 Good Birding, Andy Bankert Fort Collins -- 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 view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/CAMvLbkgATQ1n5w%2B3V7Ca0UWDCwxRoAir98rw%2BMw1MXQ7BYJyNg%40mail.gmail.com.
