[cobirds] Kiowa County Lesser Nighthawk, weirdness at Flagler SWA, Kit Carson

Greetings All

This afternoon, on the eastside of Blue Lake (Adobe Creek Reservoir), David Dowell and I had a male LESSER NIGHTHAWK. We were taking Kiowa County Road A into the SWA, just as the road starts to curve right, there is a dirt track next to a ditch going off to the right. This road goes to a grove of dusty tamarisk bordering a sandy field. The nighthawk flushed from along the edge of the trees, flew low past us, and turned the corner, at the end of the grove thus disappearing from flight. Beyond the usual wing markings/structure, this bird was notable in how it kept low, never vocalized, and flew differently from a Common Nighthawk, with stronger shallower beats. This is a bird I've seen thousands of in Baja California. Later we flushed Common Nighthawks, which rose above the treetops quickly, "peenting" as they went. At Blue Lake itself, on the east side, we found a couple MOUNTAIN PLOVER, 20+ LB CURLEW, and a MARBLED GODWIT. On BENT COUNTY ROAD 10, heading south from Blue Lake, we found 15+ MOUNTAIN PLOVER in a field, and a bit later on, a couple of BURROWING OWLS

Backtracking, at Neegronda Reservoir, Kiowa County, we found a rare-for-midsummer Osprey and another 10 or so LONG-BILLED CURLEW. We also had tarantula hawks and a beautiful rose tipped pregnant female Lesser Earless Lizard. 

At Tempel Grove, just inside Bent County, we had WHITE-WINGED DOVE (singing), BALTIMORE ORIOLE, EASTERN PHOEBE (by the bridge), BC Hummingbird, and Lesser Goldfinch

Notably, between Tempel Grove and Blue Lake, we encountered a number of Chihuahuan Ravens that seemed uncharacteristically like Chihuahuan Ravens. Many apparent Ch Ravens in Colorado seem odd, with shorter-than-expected feathering on the culmen, they call somewhat betwixt what one would expect from a Ch and a Common Reaven, or other traits are off. These birds all had extensive feathering on the culmen (photos to be posted) and the ones that called sounded nothing at all like a Common Raven.

So, now, on to oddness at Flagler SWA. There we had a list of birds that included the following remarkable combination:

Canvasback

RN Duck

Swainson's Thrush (singing, yet!)

Pine Siskin

Montane WB Nuthatch

Montane Hairy Woodpecker

Baltimore Oriole (2)

Rose-breasted Grosbeak

Red-eyed Vireo

Spotted Towhee

plus many Orchard Orioles (no Bullock's tough), eastern Warbling Vireos, etc.

Good Birding

and Good Night, or rather, morning

Steve Mlodinow

Longmont CO

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