Early yesterday evening, Monday, Sept. 2, Kei and Hannah and Andrew and I saw 2 Sanderlings at Ish Reservoir, Boulder County. The birds may have wandered from time to time into Larimer County territory, I'm sorry to report.
If you seek only Colorado reportage, stop reading now.
Earlier in the day, we were up in the ever-productive Cheyenne, Laramie, not Larimer, County, Wyoming area. The Wyoming Hereford Ranch, on the high plains just east of Cheyenne, was as fascinating as ever. One spot had all of the following: juvenile Red-naped Sapsucker, adult male Williamson's Sapsucker, adult male Yellow-shafted Flicker, adult female Yellow-shafted Flicker, adult male Eastern Downy Woodpecker, and adult male Western Downy Woodpecker. If that's not the coolest East-meets-West assemblage of woodpeckers, then I'm a monkey's uncle. Then again, that would explain something about one of my nephews, but I digress.
More East-meets-West: We saw a Great Crested Flycatcher and a Rose-breasted Grosbeak in one spot at the Wyoming Hereford Ranch, and, then, in another spot, we saw and heard an apparent Black-capped x Mountain Chickadee hybrid, plus 3 Ruby-crowned Kinglets (which I believe bred there this summer). In good numbers were migrant Western Wood-Pewees, Wilson's Warblers, and Chipping Sparrows. I think we're the only Labor Day birders who didn't see American Redstarts, but we were compensated with a couple of Townsend's Warblers.
The nearby Hereford reservoirs (meaninglessly numbered 1 and 2, like the two Prince Lakes in Boulder County, Colo.) are outstanding. No. 2 has thousands of birds on it, but, alas, they're distant, and the heat waves were bad. If somebody has access to that site, that somebody will surely find a rare bird or three there. No. 1 has just a few dozen birds, but they're quite easily viewed; we saw, among other things, 4 Pectoral Sandpipers and a tu-tu-tu-ing Short-billed Dowitcher. (FYI, No. 2 is a mile or so east of the ranch; No. 1, a couple of miles west.)
Finally, I note that Cheyenne has been invaded of late by Mississippi Kites. Might not be a bad idea for northern Front Range Coloradans to be on the lookout in the days ahead for "Mickies."
Ted Floyd
tedfloyd57@hotmail.com
Lafayette, Boulder County, Colorado
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