Hi all,
Fifteen birders came on today's Arkansas Valley/Aiken Audubon field trip around Pueblo. Some of the group started at Sailboard Road at Pueblo Reservoir, hoping for the Laughing Gull, though it didn't show, though a first year LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL was a good consolation prize. At least one Forster's Tern came to the beach as well.
We spend the rest of the morning, birding below the dam, along the Arkansas River, first the south side, from Snakeskin/Cottonwood Picnic Area parking lots, east past the Fish Hatchery Ponds, toward the Valco Ponds parking lot, and then back along the bluff. The best birds found were: two Townsend's Warblers, a Red-naped Sapsucker, two Eastern Phoebes, a male NASHVILLE WARBLER, and a flyover adult BROAD-WINGED HAWK. Along on the river, the American White Pelican continues, as well as three Common Mergansers. There were some kind of late things around still too: Yellow Warblers, Western Wood-Pewees, and a Western Kingbird as well. There were some cooperative Townsend's Solitaires, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Bewick's Wren, Curve-billed Thrasher, Scaled Quail, among others.
It was quite windy, when we walked around the east end of the Osprey Picnic Area in Rock Canyon, so we didn't find much, except for a male Western Tanager, so we called it a good morning a little before noon.
Chris Knight and I were driving west through the Osprey Picnic Area, when we noticed some birds. We decided to look around for a few minutes. The west end of the Osprey Picnic Area was quite birdy around 12:15pm or so, we saw another Red-naped Sapsucker and another Eastern Phoebe, among other more common species.
It looks like between the reservoir and the river, we found nearly 70 species of birds. We also saw several butterfly species, a few dragonflies/damselflies, tiger beetles, lizards, and a long Bull (Gopher) Snake!
It was a fun morning, except for the wind that was blowing a little too hard at times.
Brandon Percival
Pueblo West, CO
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