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 <davidtonness...@gmail.com> 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 cobirds@googlegroups.com > 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 cobirds+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > 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 cobirds@googlegroups.com 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 cobirds+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/CANESPG%3DB3cVkhzO91q83grpekWQfJHbb3ZcO8ZAuMLZYtf%3DSgA%40mail.gmail.com.
