Re: [cobirds] Re: Ode to Laura Steadman

[Peter Burke]

Laura,
Thanks so much for getting the word out, I know quite a few people
 were able to enjoy the bird this evening. Who
knows, with this mild weather maybe it will stick around for awhile. I've
posted a few photos to flickr, but here's my favorite
, with the Rocky Mountains in the background.

Good birding everyone,
Peter



Peter Burke

5590 Spine Rd. #204 Boulder, CO 80301

(973) 214-0140

Flickr   LinkedIn






On Sun, Oct 21, 2018 at 8:51 PM Laura Steadman 
wrote:

> Thanks, Bill!
>
> I'm glad so many of you were able to get out quickly, see the flycatcher
> this afternoon, and take hopefully better photos than me! I hope it sticks
> around for others to pick up. What a cool bird.
>
> Happy (and lucky!) birding,
> Laura Steadman
> Boulder
>
> On Sun, Oct 21, 2018 at 7:57 PM Steven Rash  wrote:
>
>> Here, here! It made up for a frustrating Sprague's Pipit-less jaunt to
>> the state line this morning. That's for sure!
>>
>> Happy Birding,
>>
>> Steve Rash
>> Denver Co.
>>
>> On Sunday, October 21, 2018 at 7:48:03 PM UTC-6, William Kaempfer wrote:
>>>
>>> With these simple words at 2:49 p.m., Laura Steadman made lots of people
>>> happy this afternoon:
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> “While looking at the stilt sandpiper and plover (both still present),
>>> happened to catch site of a fork-tailed flycatcher on the western shore.
>>> Currently viewing.”
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> It takes three things to make real birding news—finding a great bird,
>>> identifying that great bird, and getting the word out. Laura had the
>>> hat-trick today.  Well, it takes a great bird, too, I guess.  After a
>>> frustrating, one-observer report of Fork-tailed Flycatcher in mid-September
>>> that, I believe, was a first state record for Colorado, this was a species
>>> that was on a lot of our minds.  A bird to dream about, with its snappy
>>> black and white body, and that long, long, long tail.  Perhaps the only
>>> austral migrant (breeds south migrates north and sometimes gets to North
>>> America) semi-regularly seen in the US, this is a bird of interest anywhere
>>> north of Mexico.  I think it is even the story bird behind the cover of
>>> John Vanderpoel’s soon to be published recounting of his North American Big
>>> Year in 2011, *Full Chase Mode*.  And chase we did.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> I made it to Prince #2 at about 3:15 p.m., and there were already 8
>>> other birders present.  It took a little while to re-find the bird, but we
>>> slowly starting thinking that the best strategy might be to walk out on the
>>> former County Road 111 in order to be below the dam for best viewing
>>> opportunities..  After Peter Burke saw it flying somewhere off to the north
>>> of Prince #2, we all began walking that way; groups of us, handfuls of us,
>>> dozens of us, scores of us, hundreds of us.  Trying to count how many
>>> birders were there was like trying to count the number of Western Grebes
>>> currently on Union Reservoir, a little bit to the northwest.  There was
>>> Loch Kilpatrick, and there Mark Chavez.  Oh, and Rachel Hopper, and Carl
>>> Bendorf, and Bill Schmoker, and Gwen Moore, and Joey Kellner, and Glenn
>>> Walbeck, and on and on.  Steve Larson and Edie Israel were there, and they
>>> fly out South Africa at 3:00 a.m. Monday morning!  I bet even the
>>> Widowbirds down there won’t be as thrilling.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> This is not the first time modest, little Prince Lake #2 in eastern
>>> Boulder County has made birding news.  Way back on October 26, 1975,
>>> then-Boulder birder Bruce Webb found what I believe to be the first state
>>> record of Sharp-tailed Sandpiper at Prince #2.  This bird elicited the
>>> famous comment from Colorado birding icon, Harold Holt, “It isn’t a
>>> Sharp-tailed Sandpiper until the Colorado Bird Records Committee says it is
>>> a Sharp-tailed Sandpiper”. (fide, Peter Gent).  Hey—another great bird
>>> during the last 10 days of October.  And the year before that, what must
>>> have been the first state record of Baird’s Sparrow on, wait for this,
>>> October 29, 1974.  Prince #2 has also had Red Phalarope, Iceland (Iceland)
>>> Gull, and Eurasian Wigeon, and just over the hill at Prince #1 there is
>>> still a Yellow-billed Loon somewhere at the bottom of the pond, but that’s
>>> a different story.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Then last week’s wind-focused fallout brought American Golden Plovers to
>>> us, all over the Front Range--but importantly to this story, to Prince #2.
>>> A couple of plovers made themselves easy to see in the soft, nourishing mud
>>> along the south shore of the small agriculture reservoir, and many went to
>>> Prince #2 for their year, state, life, county, or whatever AGPL.  David
>>> Waltman notes that this was the start of our own Patagonia Roadside Rest
>>> stop phenomenon.  Those plovers brought Laura Steadman out at 2:48 this
>>> afternoon.  Well, if 

Re: [cobirds] Re: Ode to Laura Steadman

[Laura Steadman]

Thanks, Bill!

I'm glad so many of you were able to get out quickly, see the flycatcher
this afternoon, and take hopefully better photos than me! I hope it sticks
around for others to pick up. What a cool bird.

Happy (and lucky!) birding,
Laura Steadman
Boulder

On Sun, Oct 21, 2018 at 7:57 PM Steven Rash  wrote:

> Here, here! It made up for a frustrating Sprague's Pipit-less jaunt to the
> state line this morning. That's for sure!
>
> Happy Birding,
>
> Steve Rash
> Denver Co.
>
> On Sunday, October 21, 2018 at 7:48:03 PM UTC-6, William Kaempfer wrote:
>>
>> With these simple words at 2:49 p.m., Laura Steadman made lots of people
>> happy this afternoon:
>>
>>
>>
>> “While looking at the stilt sandpiper and plover (both still present),
>> happened to catch site of a fork-tailed flycatcher on the western shore.
>> Currently viewing.”
>>
>>
>>
>> It takes three things to make real birding news—finding a great bird,
>> identifying that great bird, and getting the word out. Laura had the
>> hat-trick today.  Well, it takes a great bird, too, I guess.  After a
>> frustrating, one-observer report of Fork-tailed Flycatcher in mid-September
>> that, I believe, was a first state record for Colorado, this was a species
>> that was on a lot of our minds.  A bird to dream about, with its snappy
>> black and white body, and that long, long, long tail.  Perhaps the only
>> austral migrant (breeds south migrates north and sometimes gets to North
>> America) semi-regularly seen in the US, this is a bird of interest anywhere
>> north of Mexico.  I think it is even the story bird behind the cover of
>> John Vanderpoel’s soon to be published recounting of his North American Big
>> Year in 2011, *Full Chase Mode*.  And chase we did.
>>
>>
>>
>> I made it to Prince #2 at about 3:15 p.m., and there were already 8 other
>> birders present.  It took a little while to re-find the bird, but we slowly
>> starting thinking that the best strategy might be to walk out on the former
>> County Road 111 in order to be below the dam for best viewing
>> opportunities..  After Peter Burke saw it flying somewhere off to the north
>> of Prince #2, we all began walking that way; groups of us, handfuls of us,
>> dozens of us, scores of us, hundreds of us.  Trying to count how many
>> birders were there was like trying to count the number of Western Grebes
>> currently on Union Reservoir, a little bit to the northwest.  There was
>> Loch Kilpatrick, and there Mark Chavez.  Oh, and Rachel Hopper, and Carl
>> Bendorf, and Bill Schmoker, and Gwen Moore, and Joey Kellner, and Glenn
>> Walbeck, and on and on.  Steve Larson and Edie Israel were there, and they
>> fly out South Africa at 3:00 a.m. Monday morning!  I bet even the
>> Widowbirds down there won’t be as thrilling.
>>
>>
>>
>> This is not the first time modest, little Prince Lake #2 in eastern
>> Boulder County has made birding news.  Way back on October 26, 1975,
>> then-Boulder birder Bruce Webb found what I believe to be the first state
>> record of Sharp-tailed Sandpiper at Prince #2.  This bird elicited the
>> famous comment from Colorado birding icon, Harold Holt, “It isn’t a
>> Sharp-tailed Sandpiper until the Colorado Bird Records Committee says it is
>> a Sharp-tailed Sandpiper”. (fide, Peter Gent).  Hey—another great bird
>> during the last 10 days of October.  And the year before that, what must
>> have been the first state record of Baird’s Sparrow on, wait for this,
>> October 29, 1974.  Prince #2 has also had Red Phalarope, Iceland (Iceland)
>> Gull, and Eurasian Wigeon, and just over the hill at Prince #1 there is
>> still a Yellow-billed Loon somewhere at the bottom of the pond, but that’s
>> a different story.
>>
>>
>>
>> Then last week’s wind-focused fallout brought American Golden Plovers to
>> us, all over the Front Range--but importantly to this story, to Prince #2.
>> A couple of plovers made themselves easy to see in the soft, nourishing mud
>> along the south shore of the small agriculture reservoir, and many went to
>> Prince #2 for their year, state, life, county, or whatever AGPL.  David
>> Waltman notes that this was the start of our own Patagonia Roadside Rest
>> stop phenomenon.  Those plovers brought Laura Steadman out at 2:48 this
>> afternoon.  Well, if the truth be told, I stopped at Prince #2 at 9:55 this
>> morning.  So, the Fork-tailed Flycatcher must have arrived between 9:55 and
>> 2:48 (insert smiley face here).
>>
>>
>>
>> Thanks, Laura from 100 Colorado birders, and then some.  And, somebody
>> remember to go out there at the end of next October.
>>
>>
>>
>> Bill Kaempfer
>>
>> Boulder
>>
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