I was lucky enough to be invited along on a Weld County trip by Doug Shoffner and a mutual new birder friend and her 9 year old daughter - also a budding birder! We ended up with 71 species.
After great looks at singing Grasshopper Sparrow and the first of hundreds of Lark Buntings at Hwy 14 and CR 51, it was on to Crow Valley Campground. Best birds were a 1st year male (AHY) American Redstart and a Red-headed Woodpecker with bright birds like a female Western Tanager, American Goldfinches, Orchard and Bullock's orioles, a male Black-headed Grosbeak, Yellow Warblers and a less bright Brown Thrasher and endlessly singing Northern Mockingbird wowing our new birders. Unfortunately, I couldn't turn any of the Swainson's Thrushes into Gray-cheeked.
Just up the road at the Work Center we had female Summer Tanager and another (or same?) Red-headed Woodpecker. The Crow Creek bridge over CR 77 had a lot of activity but nothing unusual until a Swainson's Hawk dove through and excited everything.
Along Rd 96 towards Murphy's Pasture it was mostly Lark Buntings with a smattering of Horned Larks, Western Meadowlarks, Vesper Sparrows and Western Kingbirds. I was able to get on one McCown's Longspur with my scope but not for long. This was our biggest disappointment as it would have been a lifer for all but me. An impending storm and lots of target shooters hastened our retreat to the south.
County Rd 48 south of Lower Latham was hopping with both calling Virginia Rail and Sora and many others. eBird didn't like the two Lesser Yellowlegs still hanging on but our best bird was a single White-rumped Sandpiper that flew right over us, then circled and flew out of sight to the south.
CR 42 at Beebe Draw was also quite busy with American Avocets on nests and some other goodies including Great-tailed Grackles (also on CR 48). A very distant scope view of a Burrowing Owl by the feed lot was probably the overall favorite of our 9-year-old. All together it was a respectable day and tons of fun!
Chip Clouse
Olde Town Arvada, CO
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