This morning, Todd Deininger, Sue Riffe, Gwen Moore and I set off for the middle of the state to look for several recently reported rarities.
We started at Prospect Lake in Colorado Springs (El Paso) where we got up-close and personal with all three scoters (2 Surf) plus Greater Scaup, Red-breasted Merganser and lots of other more expected species. We then went down CO 115 to Penrose (Fremont) and Brush Hollow Reservoir where there were double-digit Killdeer and 3 Canyon Towhees among others. We continued to Tunnel Drive where it was quite windy, but that didn’t disturb a flock of Bushtits, a handful of White-crowned Sparrows and a Cooper’s Hawk overhead (but no Rufous-crowned Sparrows, alas).
In Canon City itself we had a sharp male Williamson’s Sapsucker and a Red-naped Sapsucker in Centennial Park and found Juniper Titmouse along Temple Canyon Drive.
We then continued to Pueblo Reservoir State Park (Pueblo) where, with Brandon Percival’s assistance we had several productive stops (although not always seeing the same birds that Brandon reported earlier today). At West Fishing Road we had at least two Bonaparte’s Gulls and Horned Grebes by the dam, but at the south marina we had 1st winter and adult Lesser Black-backed Gulls and a 1st winter Mew Gull, but no Great Black-backed Gull. In addition, the only woodpecker we could find at City Park in Pueblo was a downy.
Finally we stopped at Big Johnson (El Paso) on our trip home where we had 2 or 3 Common Loons in the thousands of birds, but we were not able to turn up other recently reported good finds.
Bill Kaempfer
Boulder
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