[cobirds] 4 Zonotrichia flock and other goodies, Two Buttes WMA, Prowers County

Dear CO-BIRDers,

Greetings from the High Plains Snow Goose Festival in Lamar, CO.

Yesterday afternoon, Saturday 23 February, Ted Floyd, Liz Gordon, and I capped a surprisingly birdy visit to the "Black Hole" area just below the dam at Two Buttes Reservoir with a fun taxonomic sweep:  a flock including all 4 species of regularly occurring "crowned" sparrows of the genus Zonotrichia.

We had scared up a bunch of White-crowned Sparrows when Ted and I spotted a lovely male Harris's Sparrow. The flock moved off a few meters and we repositioned the group in hopes of finding the Harris's again.

The sparrows proved somewhat uncooperative, so I walked a bit downslope, hoping to cause a few of the birds to pop up out of the weeds and back into view. Sure enough, we got brief views of at least 2 Harris's Sparrows among the several dozen White-crowneds. My attention was then drawn to a pair of sparrows perched within a few inches of each other near the top of a weed stalk perhaps ten meters distant from me. The upper bird was an obvious White-crowned, but the lower looked a bit dingy brown. Before I had time to ponder the implications of this difference, the lower bird swung its bill toward me, revealing a small but intensely mustard yellow patch in the center of its forecrown. 

I yelled out something about having a Golden-crowned Sparrow and struggled to get the group on it. Not all were able to see it from their somewhat different angle and greater distance. Luckily, Ted Floyd was one that did. 

While I was struggling mightily to get my camera and telephoto lens out of my bag and back into contact with one another, Ted called out that he had a White-throated Sparrow, the fourth and final of the Zonotrichia that are found with any frequency in Colorado, or indeed the ABA Area. I never saw the White-throated and I didn't get my gear wrangled in time to get a photo of the Golden-crowned. Still, it was a thrilling finale to a fine outing. (More detailed directions to the spot are at the end of this post.)

Of course, joking immediately ensued about whether we might rediscover the Georgetown Rufous-collared Sparrow, for an unheard-of 5 Zonotrichia species. 

Other birds seen as we walked along the stream side thickets included a single Curve-billed Thrasher, a Townsend's Solitaire, a cooperative Great Horned Owl, plus a handful of ducks and raptors. There was also a Brown Creeper, a heard-only Canyon Wren, and a flock of piercingly blue Mountain Bluebirds.

All this, but no porcupines. 

For over a year, Ted Floyd has been telling Liz and me that this Snow Goose Festival field trip to Two Buttes is a can't-miss way to see porcupines, even though it tends not to be very birdy on February afternoons. He has joked many times about the number of porcupines often exceeding the total number of birds, at least in the early going. I don't know which phenomenon Ted found more surprising, the abundance and diversity of birds or the utter lack of porcupines. In any event, it was a great trip. We'll just have to get those porcupines next time.

For anyone wanting to attempt to refind the sparrow flock, the birds were working calf-high weeds and brushy thickets on the downstream (east) side of the dam. If you park near the dam and walk down the road toward the Black Hole, just as the road bends east away from the dam and starts paralleling the stream, watch the weeds and brush off to the south. Google Maps says the location is 37.635804,-102.537432 There's a map with a dropped pin here: http://goo.gl/maps/8Tdvg

Here's a link to an image by Dave Ingram of a Golden-crowned Sparrow that closely matches our bird at Two Buttes in appearance: http://islandnature.ca/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/golden-crowned_sparrow.jpg Again, this is NOT a photo of the Two Buttes bird, just one that'll give you a good idea of what to look for, if you go. 

I'd be happy to provide additional information off-list to anyone wanting it.

Good birding,

Jeff

Jeffrey Gordon
President
American Birding Association
Colorado Springs, CO
jgordon@aba.org
www.aba.org

719-884-8226 office
302-388-4444 cell