Yesterday I headed out for my first excursion to the northeast corner of CO. I enjoyed a few species special to that area, and some that were my first of the season.
I began at Tamarack Ranch SWA. I was very happy when a GREATER PRAIRIE CHICKEN crossed my path near sunrise in the sandsage sandhill habitat in the East Tamarack area, south of the river. There were some shorebirds in the “meadows” in flooded areas between the hedgerows of East Tamarack: 9 LESSER YELLOWLEGS, 5 GREATERS, and 2 LONG-BILLED DOWITCHERS (and Killdeer). There was a lot of nice looking shallow flooded habitat without shorebirds; as migration picks up shorebirding might be really good there in those meadows. Other birds of interest to me at Tamarack included 1 NOR. BOBWHITE, 4 EASTERN BLUEBIRDS, numerous RED-BELLIED WOODPECKERS, 48 SANDHILL CRANES, 1 MYRTLE WARBLER, 1 RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET, 23 TOWNSEND’S SOLITAIRES, MARSH WREN, MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRD, LINCOLN’S SPARROW, NOR. CARDINAL, EASTERN PHOEBE, BARN SWALLOW (my 1st of season), and a sweet visual of an EASTERN SCREECH-OWL in a hole in a cottonwood.
Geese were flying over the Tamarack area, and later seen at and around the Jumbo / Red Lion area. Aggregate totals for the day in Logan and Sedgwick Counties were about 3550 SNOW GEESE, 550 ROSS’S, 2300 Snow/Ross’s sp., 550 GR. WHITE-FRONTED, and small numbers of Canada and Cackling.
The Jumbo and Red Lion SWAs had AM. WHITE PELICANS, DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANTS, 3-4 BALD EAGLES, 6 GREATER SCAUP, small numbers of FRANKLIN’S GULLS, 1 VIRGINIA RAIL, 1 LOGGERHEAD SHRIKE (my first of season), 6 BLUE-BINGED TEAL, 2 CINNAMON TEAL, and 1 GREAT-TAILED GRACKLE.
My first NOR. MOCKINGBIRD of the season was at Ovid, and my first SWAINSON’S HAWK of the season was soaring at Crook. Common Grackles were in all the towns from Crook to Julesburg. Some of the other raptors in Logan and Sedgwick included 1 PRAIRIE FALCON, 7 ROUGH-LEGGED HAWKS and 4 FERRUGINOUS HAWKS.
Back in the Denver area, viewing Marston Lake from the NW corner produced a 1st cycle LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL, 17 handsome FRANKLIN’S GULLS (most showing pretty pink tones on the underparts), 3 lingering HERRING GULLS, 1 CLARK’S GREBE with some Westerns, 2 LONG-BILLED DOWITCHERS, and 1 BALD EAGLE.
David Suddjian
Littleton
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