I was able to follow up on Beatty's report and found the juvenile Sabine's Gull at Pond 114 in Blanca Wetlands. We were conducting shorebird surveys so the gull was an a fabulous benefit. It also rests on an island in pond 134. To see this bird, go into Blanca Wetlands all the way east until the road comes to a "T" to either south or north mallard. Go toward North Mallard and it's the first pond on the right. If not there, go back to the "T" and park and walk the dirt road east for 0.5 miles to pond 134, which is the next pond east of 114.
After it was re-found, my wife Lisa and Biologist Randy Ghormley got to see it as well.
I have been searching for this species for decades in the Valley. This observation could represent the first documented San Luis Valley Record (R&A, Rawinski, 2014), tho there may have been some I missed.
It was an amazing day for shorebirds with the most diversity all year. We tallied 17 species of shorebirds including Pectoral, Stilt, and other sandpipers, Black-bellied Plovers, Black-necked Stilts, Willet, and Marbled Godwits.
John Rawinski
Monte Vista, Colorado
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