Birders,
Mark Peterson and I ran a Big Day yesterday (4/27) through Pueblo, Teller, El Paso, Fremont, Otero, and Bent counties, breaking the previous April record of 170 with 174 species. Our route began in the Wet Mountains in Pueblo Co. where we had success with owls with 3 NORTHERN PYGMY OWLS, 3-4 NORTHERN SAW-WHET OWLS, and SPOTTED OWL as well as GREAT HORNED. We picked up a BURROWING OWL on the way out of Pueblo, and added SHORT-EARED on Squirrel Creek Road in El Paso, a very nice start. The rest of our day was really not that spectacular, but there were some highlights. In Teller, we picked up both RED-NAPED and WILLIAMSON'S SAPSUCKERS on their breeding grounds, and the usual mountain stuff (including yet another Pygmy Owl). Some of our best birds of the day were BLACK, GRAY-CROWNED and BROWN-CAPPED ROSY FINCHES at feeders in Divide (Teller). An emergency stop just outside Woodland Park netted us EVENING GROSBEAK, before we went into a prolonged slump. Sure we saw birds at Garden of the Gods, Big Johnson Res, and Fountain Creek Park in El Paso, but nothing out of the ordinary save the lingering HARRIS'S SPARROW at FCRP. We got to Fremont as quickly as we could for the Phoebe show (we had SAY'S, BLACK, BLACKish, EASTERNish, and EASTERN; Steve Mlodinow, hybrids await you), and things picked up for us. Most of these highlights have been posted already--GREEN HERON, CATTLE EGRET, LONG-BILLED CURLEW, and BLACK-THROATED SPARROW; those "other birders" Brandon mentioned were us;). A GREAT EGRET at Valco Ponds and a WILSON'S WARBLER along the river rounded out or Fremont goodies before we blazed east. At this point we certainly were not talking about records, but as we crossed Pueblo County for the third time, we added a few things here and there. A couple WESTERN BLUEBIRDS were a nice addition in Otero, as were a couple CHIMNEY SWIFTS in Manzanola. On our way to Holbrook, we stopped at Rocky Ford SWA where we had a singing NORTHERN CARDINAL. At Lake Holbrook, SANDERLING was easily the best bird, though the lake is really low and should be great for shorebirds. Cheraw had a decent array as well, including SNOWY PLOVERS, SEMIPALMATED PLOVERS, BLACK-NECKED STILTS, 4 PEEPS, a STILT SANDPIPER, MARBLED GODWITS and a RED-NECKED PHALAROPE. At this point we did a final tally and much to our surprise realized we needed only 5 species for the record. From previous eBird reports, we knew there was a ROSS'S GOOSE in La Junta, which we nabbed, and as light faded we managed BROWN THRASHER and EASTERN BLUEBIRD at Oxbow SWA. With only 2 to go, we headed to the Bent Co marshes and quickly got the tie with VIRGINIA RAIL and SORA. The next 3 hours were a fruitless search for Black Rail which is NOT in yet; in fact, the recent Texas Big Day that broke the overall record with 294(!) failed to tick Black Rail, so who knows what's happening there. We added NORTHERN MOCKINGBIRD and COMMON POORWILL in the dark at the marshes, and then with about an hour or so to go, my favorite highlight of the day was both EASTERN and WESTERN SCREECH-OWLS calling in the same grove along Fort Lyon Canal (a very respectable 8-owl day).
Today 4/28 we birded LCC woods in Prowers Co, where we had actual rare birds: a male BLUE-WINGED WARBLER seen by a handful of people, VIRGINIA'S WARBLER, the CAROLINA WREN and NORTHERN CARDINALS, another lingering HARRIS'S SPARROW, BROAD-WINGED HAWK, and the EASTERN x SPOTTED TOWHEE that Duane Nelson and Dave Laetherman had a while back which is like about 90% Eastern. We also had a GLOSSY IBIS and an incredibly racist local at Thurston; no sign of yesterday's Hudsonian Godwit.
Cheers,
--
Dan Maynard
Boulder, CO
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