Early Wednesday morning I did some birding at Lake Hasty and the Lamar Community College woods without finding much of note, unlike the experience I had the day before with Duane Nelson at LCC with the numerous good birds we saw there. I then went to Tempel Grove and birded for 3 hours in the often heavy rain, wet thigh-high weeds, and slippery, sticky mud, starting around 10:45. (For some unknown reason, no one else was out there birding . . . . ) The birding started out fairly slow for the first half hour or so, but thereafter started to pick up.
The highlights: PHILADELPHIA VIREO (I actually believe there were two of them there together, but I ended up focusing on only one); Cassin's Vireo (1); Blackpoll Warbler (1, bright fall male that had me wondering about Pine Warbler). Others of interest included: Townsend's Warbler (1 male); American Redstart (1 female); Great-crested Flycatcher (1); Red-bellied Woodpecker (1); Swainson's Thrush (2); Clay-colored Sparrow (at least 3, likely more); Several empids, including one "Traill's" that I thought was most likely a Willow Flycatcher; Olive-sided Flycatcher (at least 2); Warbling Vireo (1); Rock Wren (2). Species found in the greatest numbers out there were probably Wilson's Warblers, low-flying Common Nighthawks, and Barn Swallows, with at least a few dozen of each. Most of the best birds, including the 3 highlight species I mentioned, were strung out along the first 1/2 mile or so of the eastern canal road, which I started walking around 12:30, the rest were all in the woods on the western side of CR 35 which I birded first. I never did walk out the west side canal road, so don't know what, if anything, might have been out that direction. It is also quite possible that I missed a lot of birds where I did walk, given the challenging conditions while I was there. David Gillilan Littleton -- 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 post to this group, send email to cobirds@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/DD486B5C-8F59-4A43-8F22-97B41823EE36%40gmail.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
