David, Thank you so much for leading our very successful trip. It was my first time at John Martin Reservoir. I learned a lot and plan to go back.
Here is a photo I took on Saturday that captures our adventure. Cinnamon Bergeron Colorado Springs On Wed, Sep 1, 2021 at 10:28 AM David Tønnessen <[email protected]> wrote: > Hello birders, > > This is a late post due to my schedule but over the weekend of 8/28 - > 8/29, five of us were out on each day birding John Martin Reservoir and > surrounding area thanks to the Colorado Field Ornithologists initiating > field trips as part of their ongoing shorebird theme. The mission here > ended in outstanding success. > > On Saturday, we started scoping on the cliffs at 38.0746409, -103.0133372 > at around 7 am, which overlooks a large portion of the mudflat-turned > northwest shore and even features a sizeable puddle directly below the > cliffs where many of the shorebirds would cycle through. Highlights from > this vantage point included: > Black Tern - 6 > Black-necked Stilt - 2 > American Avocet - 240+ > Semipalmated Plover - 2 > Piping Plover - 1 > Killdeer - 18 > Marbled Godwit - 9 > RED KNOT - 1 > Stilt Sandpiper - 45 > Sanderling - 6 > Baird's Sandpiper - 1700+ > Least Sandpiper - 13 > BUFF-BREASTED SANDPIPER - 1 > Pectoral Sandpiper - 35 > Semipalmated Sandpiper - 2 > Western Sandpiper - 13 > SHORT-BILLED DOWITCHER - 2 > Wilson's Phalarope - 1300+ > Red-necked Phalarope - 15 > Spotted Sandpiper - 1 > Solitary Sandpiper - 1 > Greater Yellowlegs - 3 > Lesser Yellowlegs - 800+ > > After this we headed toward the west side of the reservoir, stopping at > the wooded area (cottonwoods and tamarisks) at 38.086403,-103.009328 where > we found a Great Horned Owl, a Barn Owl, 2 BELL'S VIREOS (rare in Bent), a > Dickcissel, several Willow Flycatchers, and some other passerine migrants. > > Below the dam at Lake Hasty we found a total of 56 Black Terns and an > oversummering Ring-necked Duck. In the campground we located a BALTIMORE > ORIOLE, a BLACK-AND-WHITE WARBLER, a Virginia's Warbler, an Olive-sided > Flycatcher, 3 Yellow-billed Cuckoos and some other passerine migrants. > > Our two eBird lists from the day can be found below: > https://ebird.org/checklist/S93860957 > https://ebird.org/checklist/S93859084 > > > On day 2, Sunday, the initial plan was to bird other reservoirs in > southeastern Colorado but the nearly once-in-a-lifetime situation at John > Martin Reservoir provided that we bird the same area again. We followed > almost exactly the same route but spent more time checking eastern parts of > John Martin Reservoir that we hadn't checked the day before. This produced > Forster's Terns and a single Least Tern in its winter form, species we > didn't see the day before. For shorebirds, we had: > American Avocet - 250+ > Snowy Plover - 1 > Semipalmated Plover - 6 > Piping Plover - 2 > Killdeer - 22 > Upland Sandpiper - 1 (flyover) > Marbled Godwit - 14 > RED KNOT - 1 > Stilt Sandpiper - 200+ > Sanderling - 7 > Baird's Sandpiper - 1700+ > Least Sandpiper - 19 > Pectoral Sandpiper - 35 > Semipalmated Sandpiper - 2 > Western Sandpiper - 20 > SHORT-BILLED DOWITCHER - 2 > Wilson's Phalarope - 1000+ > Red-necked Phalarope - 15 > Solitary Sandpiper - 1 > Willet - 5 > Lesser Yellowlegs - 1100+ > > eBird checklists: https://ebird.org/checklist/S93936483 > https://ebird.org/checklist/S93923552 > https://ebird.org/checklist/S93923488 > > As you can see, despite a powerful cold front that moved through most of > the state the night of Saturday-Sunday, many of the shorebirds we had on > Saturday continued on Sunday, including the Red Knot and Short-billed > Dowitchers. The front seemed to have pushed many migrating passerines on > without replacing them however, as we had almost none in places we had many > the day before. > > On both days we witnessed incredible shorebird diversity and numbers, with > species such as Red-necked Phalaropes, Wilson's Phalaropes, Lesser > Yellowlegs, Baird's Sandpipers, and occasionally others feeding almost > directly below our feet from the cliffs at the aforementioned position, and > displays of synchronous flocks being scattered through the air as the three > present Peregrine Falcons would test their hand (or talon) at sandpiper > breakfast. Our shorebird diversity consisted of 22 species on Saturday and > 22 species on Sunday, making a grand total of 25 species over both days. We > had 30 total species in the order Charadriiformes, including Least Tern, > Black Tern, Forster's Tern, Ring-billed Gull and California Gull. > > > - David Tonnessen, Joan and Tim Grant, Cinnamon Bergamon, Helen Butts, and > Edward Landi > > > David Tonnessen > Boulder, CO > > > > > -- > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google > Groups "Colorado Birds" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected] > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/cobirds?hl=en?hl=en > * All posts should be signed with the poster's full name and city. Include > bird species and location in the subject line when appropriate > * Join Colorado Field Ornithologists https://cobirds.org/CFO/Membership/ > --- > 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/CADkL8FfBqLkzoCLyTevcH9VSjUpsz4e7TZS6tJQ%2BKHMjRG3%3DUw%40mail.gmail.com > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/CADkL8FfBqLkzoCLyTevcH9VSjUpsz4e7TZS6tJQ%2BKHMjRG3%3DUw%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > -- -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/cobirds?hl=en?hl=en * All posts should be signed with the poster's full name and city. Include bird species and location in the subject line when appropriate * Join Colorado Field Ornithologists https://cobirds.org/CFO/Membership/ --- 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/CANESPG%3DB3cVkhzO91q83grpekWQfJHbb3ZcO8ZAuMLZYtf%3DSgA%40mail.gmail.com.
