I took advantage of the weekend to head southeast for an extended (for me) visit to the area of the state best envisioned as all things south and east of Limon.
Friday afternoon I made my first substantive stop at a place noted as Schafer Reservoir (Lincoln Co.) on maps. This spot is midway between Hugo and Kit Carson, but on the old road not US 40. The reservoir property is private but viewable at a distance of a couple hundred years from CR 39. Lots of duck present if you want to improve your Lincoln County waterfowl list, plus my FOS American Avocet. Kit Carson (Cheyenne Co.) itself didn’t have much other than a Greater Yellowlegs at the STP and the opportunity for a nice viewing comparison of Northern and Loggerhead Shrikes south of town. In Eads (Kiowa Co.), Jackson’s Pond was typically sparse, but along Wansted Street heading south the creek flowing into Jackson’s Pond had lots of Redhead and Green-winged Teal.
Continuing south down Wansted St. (CR 40) I had a FOS Burrowing Owl just north of CR H. Then the big surprise of the day—the dry lakes in this area aren’t any more. At G and 40 an unnamed lake was full and full of ducks, Neesopah was as well. My estimate was that there were about 2000 ducks present including 7 species of dabblers (with 1 Cinnamon Teal) and 6 species of diving ducks including both scaup, Common Goldeneye and Bufflehead. While in that area, the sun set on me, so by the time I got to Thurston Reservoir (Prowers Co.) I was inundated by cranes coming to roost for the night. I estimated that there were 750 common (that is to say Sandhill) cranes but, alas, no Common Crane.
The next morning started with some Lesser Prairie Chicken viewing near Holly after which I headed south toward eastern Baca County. Burchfield SWA was active, but not with spring migrants other than a Say’s Phoebe. Walsh’s STP had usual ducks and Springfield had the usual birds for a small town in Eastern Colorado. Then I continued to Picture Canyon where a Greater Roadrunner greeted me as I entered the picnic area. Rock Wrens, Canyon Wrens and Canyon Towhees were present at that site. Sand Canyon is a few miles to the west of Picture and offers a road that continues on into Oklahoma if you are interested in pumping up a total tick list! This canyon is much more open sides with a nice variety of trees from cottonwoods to P/J. Here, a Bewick’s Wren was constantly calling a wide array of songs, but wouldn’t come out into the open. While driving on toward Cottonwood Canyon I had long looks at still molting and very early, FOS Lark Bunting.
In Cottonwood Canyon along the Baca-Las Animas County line I had a small flock of Western Scrub Jays and another pair of Canyon Towhees. At one point I was pishing when I thought there must be another birder with an identical pish nearby. I figured out that it was another Bewick’s Wren doing a perfect imitation of me! That was a first.
Sunday morning started with a walk around Oxbow SWA (Otero, Co.) between La Junta and Las Animas. Since I had been to Oxbow Lake in Anne Arundel, Maryland on Monday, I could not resist another Oxbow for the week. Maybe I should have as none of the hoped for goodies made themselves obvious. I continue on the Adobe Creek on the Bent/Kiowa county line. Again there is much more water there than when I last visited, but the spot was not teeming with birds, yet, although there were some American White Pelicans. Driving around the west side I had another Greater Roadrunner run in front of me, and then later a third for the trip was perched on a fence post along Kiowa Co. Rd. C. Later on both Lake Meredith and Lake Henry in Crowley County had numerous ducks, but the only new species for my trip was a flock of Colorado FOS Blue-winged Teal by the Meredith feed lots.
Bill Kaempfer
Boulder
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