I returned from an 11-day visit to Lamar and Great Bend, KA last Wednesday the 26th. After presenting a talk on the fox squirrel to the Silver Sneakers group at the YMCA of Boulder Valley in Lafayette on Thursday the 27th, my buddy David Ely, back in Colorado (Boulder) after a several-year hiatus to Salem, Massachusetts, twisted my arm into going back to Lamar starting at 11am on Friday the 28th. We barely beat the bad weather to Tempel's Grove (Bent) where we found the Worm-eating Warbler discovered on the 27th by Duane Nelson and Janeal Thompson. We also found 3 White-throated Sparrows (undoubtedly the same birds Duane and Janeal also reported). We also located the two Harris's Sparrows found at this location last week during my earlier visit. A Wilson's Warbler, 5 Spotted Towhees and a flyover Eastern Phoebe were about the only other noteworthy birds.
In the southeastern corner of Nee Noshe we marveled at the huge numbers of waterfowl, including over 90 Marbled Godwits, several dozen Long-billed Dowitchers, a Semipalmated Plover, 3 Snowy Plovers, a few hundred common peep, 100+ avocets, a dozen Bonaparte's Gulls, an early basic-plumaged Stilt Sandpiper (more about this bird to follow), gobs of common waterfowl including a few thousand Gadwalls, all stirred into one big frenzied pot of birdflesh by a Peregrine Falcon. As the rain, wind (out of the northeast), cold and fading light got increasingly serious, we called it a day.
Saturday April 29 was pretty miserable but being birders who know what bad weather sometimes brings, we gave it a go. With Janeal, we walked the Lamar Community College Woods, ever mindful of half-bushel baskets of snow bombing from the trees overhead, large branches crashing here and there, stiff, chilling wind, and wet clothes no matter how smartly (them) or dumb (me) we were dressed. Best bird: flyover Willet (anybody got that on their LCC list?). A few cardinals, House Wren, Turkey Vultures hunched with enough snow to appear afflicted with leucistic fibrosis, a couple yellow-rumps.
We had to choose places for the rest of our day with paved or strongly graveled surfaces. Between Lamar and Hasty our best finds were a Barn Owl under a bridge, a female Wood Duck standing in the middle of a gravel road near McClave, and 300 Yellow-headed Blackbirds looking snazzy next to a parked blue and yellow school bus.
Lake Hasty/John Martin Res (as viewed from the dam road) yielded a good (50+) species total but few rarities. Highlights were 3 Lazuli Buntings with sparrows eating Siberian elm seed wafers in the campground, a Common Loon in breeding plumage plying the John Martin Sea, a few Eastern Bluebirds in the campground clinging nuthatchstyle to the leeward side (i.e. west) of elm trunks in the campground, somewhat early Swainson's Thrush in the campground, 4 Western Kingbirds in the same little tree near the Corps of Engineers Office, 3 Great Egrets on the Lake Hasty island, and a large number of White Pelicans practicing their synchronized fishing routine for the next Avian Olympics. We found no unusual warblers, no roadrunners, no Spizella sparrows other than chippers. The homemade breakfast burritos at the little store in Hasty tasted great for a late lunch. I encourage birders visiting the area in the next few weeks to patronize the store to better enable it to stay open. Ignore the bullet hole in the front door. Jen fixes a nice lunch special most days.
We drove back to Lamar (David saw a flyover Black-bellied Plover) and went east on 196 to CR 19 s to Highway 50 and back to Lamar in the afternoon. We found nothing of significant interest.
Today (the 30th) we awoke in Lamar to falling snow, very strong winds and temps hovering near freezing. Many of the area doves were wet and bizarre in appearance, both sitting up against fences and in flight. David remarked one White-winged Dove in Janeal's backyard looked more like a Ruddy Turnstone than what it was. A flock of about 25 Forster's Terns was at Gateway Park east of the Cow Palace. We headed north from Lamar thru Kornman on Prowers CR8 to SR196, east to Sheridan Lake, n on 385 to Burlington w to Flagler town park. After finding nothing except treacherous roads and ferocious winds (I-70 was closed east of Limon presumably because semis were tipping over), we cut our losses and headed back to David's home in Boulder. Conditions improved to downright balmy. We ended by refinding the Black-throated Gray Warbler (and Peter Burke) at the East CU Campus along Boulder Creek.
[A quick note about the Stilt Sandpiper at Nee Noshe Res. It was in basic plumage (i.e. very gray with a white supercillium), standing in water up to its belly. As such an ID challenge we never thought much about previously presented itself. How do you separate Stilt Sandpiper from Dunlin/Curlew Sandpiper when you can't readily see its structure, feeding posture or leg color? The bird was next to Long-billed Dowitchers and appeared to be smaller-bodied and also shorter (below left). The books say Stilt Sandpipers are smaller-bodied than dowitchers but taller. Maybe we were affected by the wind and cold, maybe we were overly influenced by the recent report of a Curlew Sandpiper at this location, but this bird really messed with us. Tonight I can see the leg color in one of my photos (below at right) as yellow. End of question. Stilt Sandpiper.]
Counting birds we saw during our finale in warm, sunny Boulder today, our tally was about 118 species. Not bad considering the storm that engulfed us for 75% of our field time this weekend. Rarities were mostly lacking but memories will be vivid.
Dave Leatherman (for David Ely and Janeal Thompson)
Fort Collins
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