This past Friday afternoon and Saturday I took a trip to northeast Colorado primarily to scout for a field trip that I will be leading for CFO next weekend (Saturday 8/25 and Sunday 8/26). If you are interested in joining on that trip, please go on line to the CFO website at http://cfobirds.org/ and check the CFO Headlines fourth bullet down for more information.
Friday I drove directly to Prewitt Reservoir where the inlet canal area was fairly quiet, but I did see a Great Crested Flycatcher along the canal east of the parking area. Once through the woods I discovered that the water was way far out, but that there were lots of birds along the shore. Once I got to them, it turned out that virtually all the shorebirds there were Baird’s Sandpipers—perhaps 90% of 2,000 individuals. But there some others, a total of 13 species including Semi-palmated Plover (3), Black-necked Stilt (3), Marbled Godwit (1) and Sanderling (2). A far better strategy would be to start at the boat dock where shorebirds are present only about 100 yards away.
I did not walk below the Prewitt dam, but continued on to Sterling. Flying over town I saw one Mississippi Kite and on the drive to North Sterling State Park, one Upland Sandpiper on a roadside fence post. NSSP itself had no shorebirds and little other than pelicans, geese and Ring-billed and Franklin’s Gulls.
When I got up Saturday morning it was really, really foggy in Sterling, I mean can’t-see-three-car-lengths-ahead-of-you-on-the-road foggy. The fog and overcast didn’t burn off until noon and then went to blazing hot! Given the conditions, I decided to drive slowly along Logan County Road 93 south of I-76 hoping for Greater Prairie Chicken. I found 6 at two spots four to five miles south of the highway! I continued on to Julesburg driving the Pony Express Road between Ovid and Julesburg one of my favorite roads (thanks Henry). I had several Red-headed Woodpeckers and a couple of Eastern Bluebirds. The woodpeckers were noteworthy with 15 to 20 in the same area where I was good numbers on the same weekend scouting for a trip last year. But as I recall, but the time of my trip—no Red-headed Woodpeckers. We will see if the same outcome occurs.
The must visit place in Julesburg at the end of the summer is the elementary school at Spruce and 5th. There are plantings of agastache at the school that attract hummingbirds. At least four were present including Broad-tailed and Calliope.
Ovid had an adult Cooper’s Hawk, but not much else, so on to Jumbo which was sort of in between the Prewitt and North Sterling experiences. There were a few shorebirds, maybe 200, but again 90% were Baird’s. At Red Lion I walked down to the marsh below the “Little Jumbo” dam where there were Wood Ducks and at least three calling Bell’s Vireos. This was a new spot for Bell’s for me, albeit only a couple of hundred yards from the traditional spot. The wetlands along US 138 are bone dry and birdless.
Noteworthy on this trip was the absence of song bird migration. I saw three Yellow Warblers, only kingbirds besides the previously noted Great Crested among flycatchers and only Lark and Grasshopper Sparrows in addition to Lark Bunting. I hope that this changes by next weekend.
Bill Kaempfer
President, Colorado Field Ornithologists
Boulder
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