Re: [cobirds] Need identification help for bird seen on Manitou Lake near Deckers

Hi,

That is not a duck, but a shorebird - an American Avocet. Probably only infrequently found at that location, so a nice find.

David Suddjian

Littleton, CO

On Wed, Jun 10, 2026 at 10:58 AM Amanda Dodson <amandaksdodson@gmail.com> wrote:

I saw a duck I'd never seen before on Manitou Lake yesterday. It was smaller, maybe crow sized. Black and white wings with an orangey-tan wash over the head. Its eye ring and the skin around its bill was nearly pale blue in hue. Its beak was dark and very long, like a snipe. 

I never observed it diving or feeding, though I did see it do quick bobs of its head often. There was only one.

Any ideas? Merlin came up with no matches, and I haven't been able to find anything in the CO field guides. The snipe has a similar beak but the markings and coloring are quite different.

Apologies for the bad cell phone photo. 

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[cobirds] Need identification help for bird seen on Manitou Lake near Deckers

I saw a duck I'd never seen before on Manitou Lake yesterday. It was smaller, maybe crow sized. Black and white wings with an orangey-tan wash over the head. Its eye ring and the skin around its bill was nearly pale blue in hue. Its beak was dark and very long, like a snipe. 

I never observed it diving or feeding, though I did see it do quick bobs of its head often. There was only one.

Any ideas? Merlin came up with no matches, and I haven't been able to find anything in the CO field guides. The snipe has a similar beak but the markings and coloring are quite different.

Apologies for the bad cell phone photo. 

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[cobirds] Chama Basin Hotspot

I am proposing the Chama Basin Trailhead as a birding hotspot. It is in Archuleta County and It is a fantastic place for Swainsons Thrush, Fox Sparrow, Lincolns Sparrow, Dipper and Sora. It is on Rio GRande National Forest lands so camping permitted in dispersed campsites. Yesterday it even produced a rare to these parts White-eyed Vireo. San Luis Valley only has 6 observations of the white-eyed vireo so far as I know. Check it out sometime. My friend Jake and I ended the morning with 37 species. Fully exciting morning. 

John Rawinski

Monte Vista, CO

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[cobirds] Fw: Ospreys and cliff swallows

It is mid June now and the ospreys are still working on building their nest. At times, the female is actually in the nest like she is sitting on eggs, but I don't think she actually is.

Cliff swallows have taken over the underside of the pier at Highland Lake. I have no idea how many there are, but it looks to be well over 100 maybe more. This is the first time I've been able to see Cliff swallow Nests Up this close. Looks like our mosquito population is going to take a hit this year. I do have a few barn swallows in my outbuildings, But not in the numbers, I'm used to seeing. 

Pauli Smith 

Highlandlake/Mead, Weld County 

[cobirds] White-winged Dove

Just saw it in my backyard feeder in Denver at Arkansas and Steele.

Jim Esten, Denver, CO

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[cobirds] Pine Siskins, Red Crossbills…and Bill Kaempfer, Boulder County

Birders,

This is a great time of year to look at birds, flowers, and butterflies along the Meyers Homestead Trail in Walker Ranch Open Space; however, my best sighting early this morning was of Bill Kaempfer!  Those of you who are old timers, like me, will remember Bill— one of the best birders Colorado has ever seen. Bill now resides in Florida.

Bill says “hello” to everyone.  Unfortunately, we (Todd Deininger, John Vanderpoel, and I) were unable to find a Hammond’s Flycatcher for Bill along the trail.  Perhaps, he found one elsewhere.

This area is as dry as I’ve ever seen it with very few flowers or butterflies.  I was happy to find a flock of Pine Siskins and a flock of Red Crossbills ( not sure if type, but I will include a recording with my checklist).

Paula Hansley

Louisville

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[cobirds] The year of the Kentucky Warbler

Hi all,

Did you find yourself noticing Kentucky Warblers on Colorado rare bird alerts more often this spring? Compared to most years, the species seems to have had a remarkable showing statewide. This spring migration, there were 9(!) Kentucky Warblers found in 8 different counties, with 3 representing first county records.

I made a list of the total number of observations for every warbler species (and vireo) recorded in Colorado (see the bottom of this post). This is just a quick list of total eBird observations which does not count for inflated numbers and how easily chase-able certain records may have been. However; its impreciseness still provides a useful way to group species into broad rarity “tiers.” As you can see, Kentucky Warbler currently sits near the bottom of the list and is one of the rarest eastern warblers recorded in the state, numerically falling between Louisiana Waterthrush and Prairie Warbler. This year however, there have been more individual Kentucky Warblers in the state than Bay-Breasted, Blue-Winged, and Worm-Eating Combined. In fact, Colorado did not have a single confirmed Kentucky Warbler sighting in all of 2024 and 2025, and between 2020 and 2023 Colorado only had 9 total confirmed sightings.

This post is mainly to cast light on this event and is not meant to be investigative, but I will point out that this was not a particularly eventful spring migration for some other South Eastern United States breeding warblers such as Hooded (Brandon Percival exemption), Worm Eating, Prothonotary, and Prairie. This however, was an extraordinary year for Northern Parula, Louisiana Waterthrush, and White Eyed Vireo, so I’d go out on a limb to suspect there is some connection on that end. The number of observations of Louisiana Waterthrush is particularly over inflated due to two individuals being very easily chaseable within two heavily populated areas, but three in one year in our state is still exceptional.

I didn’t conduct any formal statistical analysis to determine whether these other warblers had a particularly good or bad migration this year. I’m mostly going off my own field experience and nightly scans of the rare bird alert, so I am excited to hear about the field experiences from other birders. Personally, I was lucky enough to see three Kentucky Warblers this spring, one of which was thanks to Dan Z and Leslie S in Boulder County. I had seen 2 total in Colorado before that.

Whatever the reason for this year’s influx, it was certainly fun, and I’m grateful to have gotten to bear witness to a fraction of it. Moments like this are a reminder that no matter how long you’ve been birding, migration is still full of surprises.

Number of ebird Observations in Colorado:

Warblers: 

Yellow-rumped Warbler — 196,600

Yellow Warbler — 190,000

Wilson’s Warbler — 67,900

Common Yellowthroat: 56,300

Orange Crowned Warbler-48,500

Macgilivrays Warbler- 31,800

Virginia’s Warbler — 25,000

Townsends Warbler: 8341

Black-throated Gray Warbler — 8436

American Redstart — 6657

Northern Waterthrush — 5578

Ovenbird — 4807

Northern Parula — 3175

Grace’s Warbler — 2776

Nashville Warbler — 2511

Black-and-white Warbler — 2,085

Blackpoll Warbler — 1800

Chestnut-sided Warbler — 1613

Tennessee Warbler — 1451

Hooded Warbler — 1373

Palm Warbler: 1231

Black-throated Blue Warbler — 1163

Magnolia Warbler — 1004

Yellow-throated Warbler — 969

Pine Warbler- 885

Lucy’s Warbler- 693

Blue Winged Warbler- 486

Golden Winged Warbler- 476

Blackburnian Warbler — 428

Black-throated Green Warbler — 420

Cape May Warbler: 404

Bay-breasted Warbler — 403

Worm-eating Warbler — 334

Mourning Warbler — 318

Prairie Warbler: 301

Kentucky Warbler — 291

Louisiana Waterthrush — 267

Canada Warbler — 203

Hermit Warbler — 101

Golden-crowned Warbler — 92

Painted Redstart: 73

Swainson’s Warbler — 28

Connecticut Warbler: 26

Tropical Parula — 14

Cerulean Warbler — 7

Red-faced Warbler — 5

Vireos

Western Warbling Vireo — 65,500

Plumbeous Vireo — 32,200

Red Eyed Vireo: 4,678

Cassin’s Vireo — 3,239

Gray Vireo-3018

Eastern Warbling Vireo — 2,360

Bell’s Vireo- 1042

White-eyed Vireo — 889

Yellow-throated Vireo — 720

Philadelphia Vireo — 364

Blue-headed Vireo — 265

Yellow-green Vireo — 1

Photo by Brian Genge:

Kentucky Warbler in Lincoln County

Good birding,

Luke Pheneger

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