As was Steve Mlodinow, I, too, was out birding yesterday in NE Colorado with similar results.
Shorebird habitat is definitely back, and growing daily out there. Red Lion SWA is actually starting to dry out in places where there was water a few weeks back, but it is still the case that the best habitat is away from Logan County Road 95. I walked in from the parking area just north of US 138 where a flock of over 40 White-faced Ibis flew up and then all the shorebirds were sent scurrying first by Swainson’s Hawk flybys and then by a pesky Peregrine Falcon. In the hedgerows further to the north by Jumbo Annex (aka “Little Jumbo”) there were at least four singing Bell’s Vireos.
On Jumbo Reservoir, the shoreline is falling nicely. Examination of the shore showed muck covered shingles crawling with flies and other insect-y things. I had pretty good luck with peeps out there, dozens of Baird’s Sandpipers, a few Least, a couple of Semi-palmated and at least one Western. A single Willet, a flock of Wilson’s Phalaropes in flight and three Long-billed Curlews over on LCR 94.5 put me up to 14 shorebird species in the area.
From there I went on to North Sterling State Park where the shoreline is again receding, but with few shorebirds to show for it. There were even more pelicans here than the 1,000 (easily) that Steve counted at Jumbo¸ big flocks of Lark Buntings in the wheat stubble around the park, too.
Prewitt Reservoir has higher, but still dropping, water levels. With lots of people present and only a few spots of shore, it was hard to turn up anything, but I did get two Stilt Sandpipers to bring my day to 15 species. As Steve noted in yesterday’s post, the inlet canal area has dried out and can be entered, but the grasses and weeds are 4 feet tall!
Bill Kaempfer
Boulder
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