Tom Whitten and I visited three Kiowa County Reservoirs yesterday, seeing our first of the year Swainson's Hawk on Hwy 287 and then arriving at Neenoshe Reservoir at 6:45 a.m. They've thinned and partially cleared the west-side locust grove there, it doesn't look ideal. The two-track that goes north into a peninsula hosted some Baird's, Least, Solitary, and one Semipalmated Sandpiper, both Yellowlegs, and off to our left a bit were three Snowy Plover. Also my first Vesper and Savannah Sparrows of the year.
At Upper Queens Reservoir we saw a very large white gull Way across on the northeast side but weren't able to confirm whether it was the Glaucous-winged Gull found by Mark Peterson. Three white geese mixed in with American White Pelicans in the same area also went unidentified.
Lower Queens had an amazing amount of American Avocet, we estimated well over 100, seriously, and a lot of Yellowlegs, probably 30, mostly Lesser. Working in up to a foot of water made it look like many of these three species were swimming, and the vocalization between the three was pretty darn noisy. Two Black-necked Stilts, 33 White-faced Ibis between two groups, roughly 30 Long-billed Dowitchers in the northwest corner, about 8 Baird's Sandpipers.
At Thurston Reservoir (Prowers Co) we were greeted by about 20 Sandhill Cranes lifting up from the field north of the water, a few remaining to feed. Many American Avocets including a group of 23 in the air, not agreeing on where to land. Pied-billed Grebes were issuing their loud calls around the reservoir, that one is quite a tune.
Adobe Creek Reservoir was lower than I'd ever seen it, separating into two bodies of water with all edges far from the roads. I think the western one of the two is in Bent County, among many American Avocets there (probably 30) were two Marbled Godwits.
At Lake Meredith (Crowley Co) we saw a weathered-looking adult Herring Gull, a Clark's Grebe, and American Pipits. Then we jumped across the road to Lake Henry to find...nothing much.
In all of those travels covering a lot of ground we saw a healthy number of Loggerhead Shrikes,13 duck species, 12 burrowing Owls, a few Barn Swallows and 2 Cliff Swallows, a raven we'd like to call Chihuahuan, very few raptors, and had the feeling that everything we didn't see is just about to show up. Spring has sprung.
Dan Stringer
Larkspur, CO
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