[cobirds] Larimer Wandering

With the front I was motivated to bird eastern Larimer County this afternoon.  The first few stops west of I-25 weren't terribly productive, although the sod farm at I-25 and CR-56 looks like it should have some sodpipers.  I keep hoping to find a Buff-breasted Sandpiper to give Larimer a cushion for the highest county list in the state in case the redpolls get lumped before the CBRC gets through its backlog.  Killdeer were the only shorebirds present today, although there were 2 Greater Yellowlegs yesterday.

The trees at the north end of Cobb Lake were hopping with migrants including a Black-throated Gray Warbler, multiple Wilson's and Yellow Warblers, Dusky Flycatchers, Western Wood-Pewees, Warbling Vireos, two Cassin's Vireos, and a Western Flycatcher.  After seeing the flycatcher, I was curious if any banders in the state have keyed out Western Flycatchers in the fall and whether most of them end up on the Cordilleran end of the spectrum.  In central New Mexico, most of the birds at lower elevations key out to Pacific-slope and the birds at higher elevations are Cordillerans.  With the number of migrants, I decided to hit some more stands of trees in the Cobb Lake unit of the Wellington SWA and came up with a few new species including Gray and Hammond's Flycatchers and MacGillivray's Warbler.  Three Chukars on the drive out were a nice surprise, although I shouldn't be surprised by farm-raised game birds out there since I had a Northern Bobwhite a few weeks ago.

My last stop before heading back to town was the pond on the county line road south of Larimer CR 52.  Unfortunately the pond is in Weld County, but it can be viewed from the comfort of Larimer.  I have had double-digit shorebird species in my past two visits, and I feel like this spot has the potential to turn up something exciting.  The highlights today were 4 Black-bellied Plovers and 4 Pectoral Sandpipers, and I had a Red-necked Phalarope there about a week ago.

Good Birding!

Andy Bankert

Fort Collins, CO

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