[cobirds] Kit Carson county --- EASTERN TOWHEE and OTHERS, 9/23/12

COBirders,

I had until noonish to bird today so I decided to head east to the Flagler area.  It was well worth it and one of the best days of birding I have ever had around there.  Despite the windy conditions it was amazingly birdie.  I should have known there were going to be some weird things today when along highway 24 about 6 miles before Limon there was an OSPREY perched atop a telephone pole just before 7:00 a.m.  This was technically in Elbert county.

Next stop was Flagler city park where I thought things were going to be very hard to come by in the heavy SSW winds.  To my surprise there were:

2 Red-breasted Nuthatches

1 Golden-crowned Kinglet 

4 Ruby-crowned Kinglets

3 Orange-crowned Warblers

1 Yellow-rumped Warbler 

2 Townsend's Warblers

4 Wilson's Warblers

3 Dark-eyed Junco's (all Pink-sided)

Plus the usual suspects.

Next I headed towards Flager SWA.  There is a a field that had some water running in it just east of the park that also had at least 9 MCCOWN'S LONGSPURs.  Between two different corrals I counted 278 YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRDS (I actually did the counting on my way out).  Where the real action started was once I got to the SWA.  Here is what I had (it would have been good to have more people as I could not keep up with everything):

Sorry for the long list but seemed appropriate to list out most everything I had around the SWA

2 Sharp-shinned Hawks (both imm.)

1 Copper's Hawk (ad. female)

17 Killdeer

1 Spotted Sandpiper

3 Solitary Sandpipers

1 Lesser Yellowlegs

2 Sanderlings

3 Western Sandpipers

1 Least Sandpiper

4 Baird's Sandpipers

2 Pectoral Sandpipers

1 Wilson's Snipe

1 Red-bellied Woodpecker

1 Red-naped Sapsucker

1 Sapsucker species (Red-bellied chased it off before I could see it)

1 Sapsucker species (flew by and I did not see where it landed)

1 Hammond's Flycatcher (about the only thing below the damn)

1 BLUE-HEADED VIREO (extremely bright individual)

1 Warbling Vireo

4 Tree Swallows

1 VIOLET-GREEN SWALLOW (in with the swallow flock that dropped in while I was there as there were no swallows over the water when I arrived)

4 Barn Swallows

12 Red-breasted Nuthatches

1 Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (not sure what subspecies, never made a noise)

14! Ruby-crowned Kinglets (they seemed to be all over)

4 Eastern Bluebirds

2 Townsend's Solitaires

2 Hermit Thrushes

4 Gray Catbirds

22 American Pipits

3 Cedar Waxwings

4 Chestnut-collared Longspurs

1 Tennessee Warbler

20+ Orange-crowned Warblers

1 Nashville Warbler

7 Yellow-rumped Warblers

3 Townsend's Warblers

2 Palm Warblers (both western)

1 Ovenbird

2 Common Yellowthroats

15+ Wilson's Warblers

1 Green-tailed Towhee

7 Spotted Towhee

1 EASTERN TOWHEE

70+ Chipping Sparrows

8 Clay-colored Sparrows (watch out for the bright Chipping Sparrows)

0 Field Sparrows (I thought for sure amongst all the sparrows today there would be at least one FISP)

20+ Vesper Sparrows

10+ Savannah Sparrows

10 Song Sparrows

8 Lincoln's Sparrows

2 White-throated Sparrow

50+ White-crowned Sparrows

20+ Dark-eyed Junco's (Pink-sided, Oregon and Slate)

Then as I was headed back to the town of Flagler to head home I had yet another surprise.  Just west of town there were two PINYON JAYs.  They were just lazily moving around and calling occasionally.  Certainly not something I was expecting.  I think the Violet-green Swallow was a little crazier than anything else today but putting everything together made for a great day around Flagler.

 

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Mark Peterson
Colorado Springs