It is a very windy (seemingly from all directions but mostly out of the sw?) and very dusty Saturday in Lamar. I am heading home to Fort Collins and may get 50 mpg.
To summarize this visit from November 3rd thru today, there have been 88 species. That may seem like a lot but other than the unusually big numbers of "white-cheeked" geese currently present, plus the usual mob of Snow and Ross's Geese milling about fields north of town, the numbers of birds have been modest to paltry. The area is very dry. Very little water exists anywhere. Thurston Res is a dead zone (but still worth checking, to be sure). Willow Creek behind LCC is dry (except for a small stretch south near College Drive). As expected, the small passerine migration is over. I did not see one late migrant warbler, vireo, or other member of the "unhardy" groups (buntings, tanagers, orioles, flycatchers).
Best birds by location were:
Paulsen farm north of Lamar (they are requesting no visitors, please):
Fox Sparrow (7Nov, of uncertain subspecies, possibly altavagans or at least one of the darker forms of "red")
Purple Finch (1 female seen on 7Nov)
Gray Catbird (present the entire period)
Red Crossbill (7Nov, 1 female, probably Type 5 (i.e., large-billed, sounded right), feeding on Scots Pine seeds
Harris's Sparrow (1)
Townsend's Solitaire (1)
Merlin (1)
Red-breasted Nuthatch (1)
Yellow-rumped Warbler (1 briefly on the 6th)
Common Grackle (few)
Thurston Res:
Dunlin (1, present 5-7Nov, not seen 8-9Nov but slim chance it is still present along west shore)
Thayer's Gull (1 first-winter individual)
California Gull (1a on 8Nov)
Greater Yellowlegs (1 on 8Nov)
Long-billed Dowitcher (2-3, 6-8Nov)
Baird's Sandpiper (1 with a limp, 5-8Nov, may still be present)
Killdeer (group of 20+ birds present the entire period)
Eared Grebe (2)
Wood Duck (10, on 8Nov)
American Pipits (varying numbers working flies among the tons of high-and-dry stinking dead fish)
Harris's Sparrow (1)
Marsh Wren (heard 1)
Eastern Bluebird (flyovers)
Swamp Sparrow (heard in the cattails e of the south boat ramp on the 5th)
[shorebirds mostly in the sw corner - that is, west and northwest of the boat ramp]
Fairmount Cemetery:
Red Crossbill (1 male, probably Type 5, 4&5Nov)
Evening Grosbeak (1 overflight on 4Nov, another on 6Nov)
Bushtit (flock of about a dozen, flew off to the south, 9Nov)
Brown Creeper
Townsend's Solitaire (2)
Eastern Bluebird (flyovers)
Riverside Cemetery:
Wilson's Snipe (ditch across field to the north of the cemetery)
Red-breasted Nuthatch
White-breasted Nuthatch (eastern)
lots of "white" goose flyovers of both species
Sandhill Crane flyovers various days
Brown Creeper
Townsend's Solitaire
Northern Mockingbird (2)
Lamar Community College Woods:
Carolina Wren (1)
Northern Cardinal (1m, there may be a few others)
Yellow-rumped Warbler (3-4)
Red Crossbill (1 flyover)
Willow Creek Subdivision:
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Gray Catbird
Townsend's Solitaire
1st Street & Paseo Pl/Walnut (nw corner in tree with lots of seeds (Tree-Of-Heaven)):
White-winged Dove (3)
Walmart e of town on Highway 50:
Great-tailed Grackle (10)
Gravel Ponds n of Arkansas River Bridge north of downtown east of the highway (private):
"White-cheeked" Geese (at least 1500, including at least 1 minima Cackling Goose)
White-fronted Goose (3)
Pied-billed Grebe (1)
Ragsdale/Stulp Farms south of Lamar (private):
Carolina Wren (1)
Harris's Sparrow (1)
In addition, there are lots of (hundreds, if not a few thousand) American Crows in the fields northeast of town. As would be expected just about anywhere on the eastern plains in late fall/winter, Lapland Longspurs are frequent flyovers (hundreds heard at Thurston on the 5th). Pine Siskins (and American Goldfinches) are in fair numbers in parks working various trees for buds, and along dirt roads in wild sunflowers getting seeds. Will Common Redpolls soon join them?
Dark-phased Harlan's Hawks are perhaps the second-most common form of Buteo next to the various types of light Red-tails. I would put the Arkansas River stretch from Holly to Pueblo up against just about anywhere for its winter density of Red-tailed Hawk (in all its myriad forms). I am sure Duane Nelson and others who live in the area would agree. The buteo numbers probably mean mammologists would be saying the same about the numbers of some species of Microtus vole or other small rodent.
I visited Tempel's Grove (Bent) a couple times, and despite the farmers getting a much-needed late season run of water in the Fort Lyon Ditch, it was fairly quiet. It has a Carolina Wren (making 3 individuals at 3 different Lamar area locations this visit, a personal high), a solitaire, a Red-bellied Woodpecker (at least during the visit on the 3rd), and little else. The riparian areas are very dry.
Dave Leatherman
Fort Collins
To summarize this visit from November 3rd thru today, there have been 88 species. That may seem like a lot but other than the unusually big numbers of "white-cheeked" geese currently present, plus the usual mob of Snow and Ross's Geese milling about fields north of town, the numbers of birds have been modest to paltry. The area is very dry. Very little water exists anywhere. Thurston Res is a dead zone (but still worth checking, to be sure). Willow Creek behind LCC is dry (except for a small stretch south near College Drive). As expected, the small passerine migration is over. I did not see one late migrant warbler, vireo, or other member of the "unhardy" groups (buntings, tanagers, orioles, flycatchers).
Best birds by location were:
Paulsen farm north of Lamar (they are requesting no visitors, please):
Fox Sparrow (7Nov, of uncertain subspecies, possibly altavagans or at least one of the darker forms of "red")
Purple Finch (1 female seen on 7Nov)
Gray Catbird (present the entire period)
Red Crossbill (7Nov, 1 female, probably Type 5 (i.e., large-billed, sounded right), feeding on Scots Pine seeds
Harris's Sparrow (1)
Townsend's Solitaire (1)
Merlin (1)
Red-breasted Nuthatch (1)
Yellow-rumped Warbler (1 briefly on the 6th)
Common Grackle (few)
Thurston Res:
Dunlin (1, present 5-7Nov, not seen 8-9Nov but slim chance it is still present along west shore)
Thayer's Gull (1 first-winter individual)
California Gull (1a on 8Nov)
Greater Yellowlegs (1 on 8Nov)
Long-billed Dowitcher (2-3, 6-8Nov)
Baird's Sandpiper (1 with a limp, 5-8Nov, may still be present)
Killdeer (group of 20+ birds present the entire period)
Eared Grebe (2)
Wood Duck (10, on 8Nov)
American Pipits (varying numbers working flies among the tons of high-and-dry stinking dead fish)
Harris's Sparrow (1)
Marsh Wren (heard 1)
Eastern Bluebird (flyovers)
Swamp Sparrow (heard in the cattails e of the south boat ramp on the 5th)
[shorebirds mostly in the sw corner - that is, west and northwest of the boat ramp]
Fairmount Cemetery:
Red Crossbill (1 male, probably Type 5, 4&5Nov)
Evening Grosbeak (1 overflight on 4Nov, another on 6Nov)
Bushtit (flock of about a dozen, flew off to the south, 9Nov)
Brown Creeper
Townsend's Solitaire (2)
Eastern Bluebird (flyovers)
Riverside Cemetery:
Wilson's Snipe (ditch across field to the north of the cemetery)
Red-breasted Nuthatch
White-breasted Nuthatch (eastern)
lots of "white" goose flyovers of both species
Sandhill Crane flyovers various days
Brown Creeper
Townsend's Solitaire
Northern Mockingbird (2)
Lamar Community College Woods:
Carolina Wren (1)
Northern Cardinal (1m, there may be a few others)
Yellow-rumped Warbler (3-4)
Red Crossbill (1 flyover)
Willow Creek Subdivision:
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Gray Catbird
Townsend's Solitaire
1st Street & Paseo Pl/Walnut (nw corner in tree with lots of seeds (Tree-Of-Heaven)):
White-winged Dove (3)
Walmart e of town on Highway 50:
Great-tailed Grackle (10)
Gravel Ponds n of Arkansas River Bridge north of downtown east of the highway (private):
"White-cheeked" Geese (at least 1500, including at least 1 minima Cackling Goose)
White-fronted Goose (3)
Pied-billed Grebe (1)
Ragsdale/Stulp Farms south of Lamar (private):
Carolina Wren (1)
Harris's Sparrow (1)
In addition, there are lots of (hundreds, if not a few thousand) American Crows in the fields northeast of town. As would be expected just about anywhere on the eastern plains in late fall/winter, Lapland Longspurs are frequent flyovers (hundreds heard at Thurston on the 5th). Pine Siskins (and American Goldfinches) are in fair numbers in parks working various trees for buds, and along dirt roads in wild sunflowers getting seeds. Will Common Redpolls soon join them?
Dark-phased Harlan's Hawks are perhaps the second-most common form of Buteo next to the various types of light Red-tails. I would put the Arkansas River stretch from Holly to Pueblo up against just about anywhere for its winter density of Red-tailed Hawk (in all its myriad forms). I am sure Duane Nelson and others who live in the area would agree. The buteo numbers probably mean mammologists would be saying the same about the numbers of some species of Microtus vole or other small rodent.
I visited Tempel's Grove (Bent) a couple times, and despite the farmers getting a much-needed late season run of water in the Fort Lyon Ditch, it was fairly quiet. It has a Carolina Wren (making 3 individuals at 3 different Lamar area locations this visit, a personal high), a solitaire, a Red-bellied Woodpecker (at least during the visit on the 3rd), and little else. The riparian areas are very dry.
Dave Leatherman
Fort Collins
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