John Vanderpoel and I continued our NE Colorado trip this morning in Julesburg starting with the Old Rest Stop off 385. There were relatively few passerines present including single Least and Willow/Alder flycatchers. In Julesburg proper we followed Mark Peterson’s suggestion to visit the elementary school on the west side of town. It has an extensive garden featuring lots of agastache that had 5 to 10 hummingbirds—Rufous, Calliope and Broad-tailed all being present. A nearby Blue Jay panic attach helped us find a perched Mississippi Kite and a couple Baltimore Orioles.
Next stop was Ovid where exploring along the Lodgepole Creek on the east side of town was productive for Red-eyed Vireo, a pair of silent, but presumed Eastern Wood Pewees, another Calliope Hummingbird and another pair of Baltimore Orioles.
From Ovid we continued on to Jumbo Reservoir where we started with a couple Snowy Egrets and an American Pipit. The northeast corner had a Sanderling (one also present in the southeast corner), a Western Sandpiper, a Semi-palmated Plover and a really small Cackling Goose (the same one Steve Mladinov had in May?)
In the campground the elm woods had three juvenile Eastern Bluebirds, but along the north shore, as we were scanning the island now in the middle of the lake, John picked up on a juvenile Laughing Gull.
From that point, things quieted down quite a bit (Red Lion is largely dry, stops 5-9 in Tamarack SWA were closed by an electric fence to allow grazing). Overall, we had only one Common Yellowthroat for warblers other than lots of Yellows, and few sparrows other than Larks and Lark Buntings. Eastern and Western Kingbirds were present everywhere—several hundred easily. All in all an enjoyable day with 90 species and 105 over two days (17 shorebirds).
Bill Kaempfer
Boulder
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