is the farm pond owned by a Mr. Stewart, near Highway 85, south of the town of LaSalle
and southwest of Lower Latham Reservoir. From Denver, go Northeast on 85, past Brighton
and Gilcrest, then turn right on Weld County Rode 46 and look for the large pond east of
the junction of 46 and Weld CR 37. It is not a long drive from Lower Latham either.
Acting on a tip from that peripatetic pair, Steve Mlodinow and Cathy Sheeter, I birded the site, (aka
Stewarts' Pond and Stewart's Pond) on April 5 and again today, April 7.
A highlight were the elegant Black-necked Stilts, just arrived from their austral wintering grounds, and increasing in numbers
from six on the fifth to ten today.
Also parading around this shallow pond were numbers of American Avocets, a few dozen Yellowlegs, (mostly Greater),
16 Baird's Sandpipers, a lone Least Sandpiper. Good numbers of dabbling ducks were in their best spring plumage,
as were a few Cinnammon Teal. A basic plumaged Bonaparte's Gull was there. A tight flock of 80 Yellow-headed Blackbirds had not begun to pair up yet.
Who knows what waders might be there tomorrow and tomorrow's tomorrow? A friend of mine saw an early Swainson's
Hawk near there today.
The nice thing about this site is that the owner and his tenant, Doug, are friendly to birders. They told me that
one can park out of traffic near the oil tanks, in contrast to harrowing edge-of-the-road parking near Lower Latham and
Beebe Draw. A scope is needed to see the birds well, but one is not so close as to flush them.
Joe Roller,
Denver
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