[cobirds] Elbert County 4/20

I apologize for the late posting on a day trip to Elbert County on 4/20...but no one birds there anyway, so it seems. I enjoyed it though, logging 102 species and encountering a good array of shorebirds, ducks and some other waterbirds for that county.

I began the first part of the morning near Elizabeth making stops in pine forest, mostly. A Common Loon flying north over Elizabeth was a treat, and probably a pretty good county bird. Red Crossbills (Type 2) and Red-breasted Nuthatches were still common in the pine forest, and I was sort of surprised to encounter Cassin's Finches at several stops, but I guess they are known to nest out in Elbert. A few Gray-headed Juncos were there, too.

Kiowa (town) had a pair of plains-worthy Bushtits. Common Raven was at two spots a short way west of Kiowa.

From there pretty much all my stops were in the plains south of Highway 86. There were quite a few small ponds and some moderate-sized ponds that had water. Some had no birds, but many had one or several waterbird species. 

Shorebirds included American Avocet, Killdeer, Mountain Plover (CR 197), Greater Yellowlegs, Lesser Yellowlegs, Whimbrel (CR 197, flying N with curlews), Long-billed Curlew, Baird's Sandpiper (CR 86), Least Sandpiper, Western Sandpiper, Wilson's Snipe and Wilson's Phalarope.

Waterfowl included Canada Goose, Wood Duck, Gadwall, American Wigeon, Mallard, Blue-winged Teal, Cinnamon Teal, Northern Pintail, Green-winged Teal, Lesser Scaup. Some other waterbirds Pied-billed and Eared Grebes, White-faced Ibis and Franklin's Gull.

I noted small numbers of McCown's and Chestnut-collared Longspurs, an early Bullock's Oriole (CR 22), and a decent assortment of sparrows: Chipping, Brewer's, Vesper, Lark, Savannah, Grasshopper, Song, Lincoln's, White-crowned and Lark Bunting.

David Suddjian

Littleton, CO

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