[cobirds] Weld County birding highlights

I thought about posting the subject of this message as "How many species can one expec t to see in central Weld County in a single day of birding?" or "Are rare birds actually common?" If you are interested in the answer to these questions, read on.

 

Early this morning, and as I drove east on Hwy 14 from Fort Collins toward the migrant trap at Crow Valley Campground, I said to my birding companion (Cole Wild), "Let's make this a Weld County Big Day". So we started counting species once we crossed into Weld County.

 

Here is a line list of the highlights and other notes from our 13-hour day:

1. Singing Grasshopper Sparrows and Blue Grosbeaks as we entered the grasslands east of Ault

2. A couple Hermit Thrushes still migrating at Norma's Grove (and more later at Crow Valley)

3. Cordilleran Flycatcher at Norma's Grove

4. Just a couple McCown's Longspurs in traditional locations along Murphy Pasture Road (GR96)

5. No Mountain Plover - has anyone seen one in Weld County this year??

6. At Crow Valley, continuing Summer Tanager and Palm Warbler, seen by many

7. Also at Crow Valley, a good variety of empids (flycatchers of the genus Empidonax) with a calling Alder, a singing Least, and very cooperative Willow and Dusky.

8. Many thrushes at Crow Valley, including a non-cooperative Wood, a cooperative and calling Veery, and the beautiful songs of Swainson's heard on several occasions

9. A small tern (smaller than Forster's Terns) at Lower Latham Reservoir that I suspect is an Arctic Tern. Unfortunately, our 60x scopes were not powerful enough to be certain :-(. Three Bonaparte's Gulls at the same location were flagged by ebird as "rare".

10. Several hundred ibis at Beebe Draw, including two Glossy Ibis together (a pair?) just off the road at CR 48.

11. A cooperative flock of 5 Prairie-race adult Short-billed Dowitchers also along CR48.

12. An interesting Long-billed Curlew (also flagged as "rare" by ebird) with a Whimbrel at CR42 pond (Beebe Draw). It's bill was short and its head was striped like a Whimbrel. We tried to turn it into something really exotic, but even thinking outside the box, we couldn't come up with a match, and settled on Long-billed Curlew.
13. At Glenmere Park, a continuing Snow Goose and a pair of Richardson's Cackling Goose have taken up permanent residency. Also resident is a pair (male and female) Bushtit, perhaps breeding locally - very rare for Weld County. And the number of Black-crowned Night-Heron nests on the island this year is astounding. We did not see any Cattle Egrets nesting there yet.

 

So, to answer the first question, Cole and I tallied about 150 species during one long day of birding in the central part of Weld County. If you would like to peruse my ebird list for this Weld County "Big Day", click on this link: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S18545085.

 

For the second question, are rare birds common, the answer is decidedly yes. In just one outing, as you can see from the highlight list, and from the birds flagged by ebird, many of the species seen were considered rare birds. Here is the list that ebird considered rare (not including hybrids or exotic species), in no particular order:

Arctic Tern

Bonaparte's Gull

Herring Gull

Palm Warbler

Alder Flycatcher

Wood Thrush

Long-billed Curlew

Short-billed Dowitcher

Solitary Sandpiper

Bushtit

Cackling Goose

Common Goldeneye

Common Raven

 

Two species I considered rare were not flagged - Summer Tanager and Veery.

 

Nick Komar

Fort Collins CO