I spent more than 22 hours on a Larimer County Big Day on Monday May 26 (Memorial Day). Companions were Austin Hess, Dave Wade and Ken Pals. The overriding highlight was a close encounter with a Mountain Lion that crossed our path just a few hundred feet from us while birding along the road just west of Rist Canyon pass. Together, we had more than 80 years of Colorado outdoor experience, and this was a first for all of us! Total bird species tallied by the group was 153. Bird highlights included the following: 1. Several active American Three-toed Woodpeckers working the burn area at Rist Canyon pass. 2. Singing Ovenbirds at 3 stops in upper Rist Canyon 3. A cooperative Band-tailed Pigeon that posed for photos in Rist Canyon 4. A bevvy of Bobolinks at Reservoir Ridge Natural Area, as previously reported by others 5. Several migrants moving through Pine Ridge Natural Area (Dixon Reservoir) including 2 singing American Redstarts and a silent Willow Flycatcher 6. Lingering Common Goldeneye and Hooded Merganser at East Horsetooth Gravel Pit 7. A singing adult male Orchard Oriole at Arapahoe Bend Natural Area 8. A breeding plumage Common Loon at Timnath Reservoir 9. A non-breeding Pacific Loon at Hamilton Reservoir We struck out on small mountain owls, and missed several common/expected species including Great Horned Owl, Belted Kingfisher, White-breasted Nuthatch, Ruby-crowned Kinglet and several others. The unexpected species compensated for the misses, and really after the Mountain Lion encounter, the rest was all icing on the cake. You can view my ebird list for this Big Day at http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S18582976.
Nick Komar Fort Collins CO -- 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/A977A4C6-115A-4F77-81FF-0587534259F7%40comcast.net. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
