I birded along the South Platte in NE Colorado yesterday; the signs of fall migration are starting to pop up.
Since I didn’t get an early start, my first other than drive-by birding wasn’t until I reached the Pony Express Road between Ovid and Julesburg at about 10:30. This road lies between the Interstate and the Platte and allows exploration of agricultural areas in one of the lowest lying areas of the state. The road has a bluebird box trail and I saw one male Eastern Bluebird along the way. In addition there are a couple of SWA access points to the wooded bottom land along the river. DePooter Lake had three angry Kingfishers, a Redhead and a single ibis, but neither Julesburg not Ovid were very productive.
Jumbo was packed with holiday campers, but the corner by the SE dam is starting to show some shore flats and sported three Baird’s Sandpipers and a Greater Yellowlegs as well as a single Snow Goose.
Red Lion SWA had a Bell’s Vireo in the usual spot but the wetlands near US 138 were bone dry and bird free other than Western Meadowlarks.
I searched at length for Upland Sandpipers, but without success until I gave up. Then three appeared all together at CR 37.7 along US 138. Continuing west to Sterling, Cheairs Park was good for Mississippi Kites as usual.
My final stop was at Prewitt Reservoir at which even better shore conditions are developing. I walked from the inlet canal parking spot all the way east to the end of the vegetation and was rewarded by a Red-eyed Vireo singing away (Steve Mladinow photographed this bird a week before). I failed to bring my scope with me (it was the end of a long day) so much at the water’s edge in the SW corner went unidentified, but there were triple digits of shorebirds here including Marbled Godwits. When I made it back to my car, there was a Yellow-billed Cuckoo calling to cap off the day.
Bill Kaempfer
Boulder
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