[cobirds] Another Colorado Big Day, More Precipitation

I had another friend (Alex Harper) getting ready for a field season in town last weekend, so him and I did a big day on Monday.  We pretty much followed the same route I wrote about a week ago and managed to find 205 species.  Like last week the precipitation made birding difficult during parts of the day, but the lack of wind during the first few hours of the day made it possible to pick up breeders in the snow.  The wind combined with the rain between Antero Reservoir and Canon City put us an hour behind schedule and kept our birding time at eastern migrant traps under 15 minutes at each site (Van's Grove, Lake Hasty, Lamar Community College, and Temple Grove).  Between the two big days I have done in the past week or so I had a total of 230 species plus another 11 during scouting, so the route has a ton of potential but the weather never seemed to fully cooperate.  Here are some of the highlights and lowlights of the day:

Not being able to locate the Cattle Egret nest at City Park in Denver.

Spotting a Greater White-fronted Goose with our car headlights before 1 AM, setting up another 5 goose day.

Watching Alex crawl through the snow above 11,000 feet after flying in from Las Vegas the previous night.

Hearing White-tailed Ptarmigan first thing in the morning after hiking through the snow near Weston Pass.

Flushing a Dusky Grouse while driving down the Weston Pass road.

Having American Three-toed Woodpecker, Red-breasted Nuthatch and Golden-crowned Kinglet right where I scouted them out the previous day.

Constant snow during the first hour and a half of birding.

A singing Savannah Sparrow at Buffalo Creek Reservoir saving us a ten minute detour.

Picking out a Marbled Godwit and Alex spotting a Peregrine Falcon at Antero Reservoir.

Alex's sharp eyes picking out two male Common Mergansers while driving east from Antero.
Easily adding Pinyon Jay in Guffey.

Getting slowed down by a muddy road near Guffey where our only new addition was White-breasted Nuthatch.

Getting even further behind schedule while trying to find Black-throated Gray Warbler in the wind/rain at various pull-offs on Highway 9.

Having one of those pull-offs produces Bushtit, Juniper Titmouse, Virginia's Warbler, and Blue-gray Gnatcatcher.

Spending 30 minutes at the Royal Gorge with only two new additions to our list.

Picking up all of the expected bosque birds along the Canon City River walk, but missing the scouted out Summer Tanager and Evening Grosbeak.

Missing Lewis's Woodpecker but getting great looks at Bobolinks along Lincoln Street in Canon City.

Picking up Ash-throated Flycatcher, Curve-billed Thrasher, Canyon Wren, Rock Wren, Bewick's Wren, and Black-throated Sparrow in less than 10 minutes along Chandler Road.

Spending an extra ten minutes hoping for Rufous-crowned Sparrow along Chandler Road.

Taking a selfie with a Cattle Egret in Florence after missing that bird right at midnight.

Seeing very cooperative Band-tailed Pigeon and Evening Grosbeak and hearing an unexpected Hammond's Flycatcher in Greenwood.

Not hearing MacGillivray's Warbler or Cordilleran Flycatcher in Greenwood.

The strategical decision to scope the Osprey nest from the top of the Pueblo Reservoir Dam so Alex could scope the reservoir and find a Common Loon.

Not spotting a single gull on Pueblo or John Martin Reservoirs.

Quick additions of White-winged Dove and Green Heron in Pueblo.

Crossing I-25 with 167 species was a major highlight.

Crossing I-25 at 2:27 was not a highlight.

A quick scan of Lake Holbrook through the trees from the highway producing a Forster's Tern which turned out to be our only one of the day.

Worrying about getting a public urination ticket while scoping the flats at Lake Cheraw during our only run-in with a police officer during the day. Luckily the officer was just checking to make sure we were ok.

Alex spotting a Broad-winged Hawk at Lake Cheraw shortly before the officer arrived.

Scoping a Swift Fox den during a failed attempt at Mountain Plover.

Getting stuck behind a school bus that made sure each kid made it safely inside before moving forward.

An unidentified Archilochus hummingbird at Van's Grove.

Finding our only Clay-colored and Grasshopper Sparrows on the north side of John Martin Reservoir.

Identifying a flyby Summer Tanager at Lake Hasty Campground, and later seeing it perched.

The Lake Hasty Cackling Goose that doesn't seem to move more than 20 feet.

Quickly adding Piping Plovers thanks to the hard work of Duane Nelson at John Martin Reservoir.

Picking up Least Flycatcher, Northern Cardinal, and Northern Waterthrush in our hurried run through the Lamar Community College Woods.

Not finding Red-bellied Woodpecker anywhere in Lamar.

Arriving at Temple Grove shortly before sunset and only adding Red-headed Woodpecker and Wild Turkey.

Getting to Neesopah and finding Ross's Goose as bird #200 and Alex picking out a Western Sandpiper as well as adding Sanderling and Semipalmated Plover.

Hearing Black Rail while putting on our jackets near Ft. Lyons due to the wind and cold temperatures.

Virginia Rail calling for bird #205 and our last new pickup of the day.

Missing Sora (this ended up being our worst mishap of the day)

At around 10:00 after missing Western Screech-Owl and Sora we decided to camp at the marsh about a mile west of County Road 15 near Ft. Lyons in hopes of hearing a Sora in our sleep before midnight. Sometime after midnight Alex woke me up to close the car windows due to the rain, and we were way too tired to make the connection of what the rain would do to the roads.  When we woke up the next morning the roads were very muddy and after learning that roadside assistance means next to a paved road and getting phone numbers for towing companies from Duane (thanks for those!), we decided that brute strength and three hours of our time was better than having to pay for a tow truck.  The overall highlight of the trip had nothing to do with the 205 species of birds we had on Monday, but it came after I pushed the car to get it started then watched as Alex took off then veered off the road into a field and continued for the next mile until he hit the pavement shouting "We don't need any [expletive deleted] tow truck!".

I posted a picture of our checklist and some pictures we took during the big day at: https://www.flickr.com/gp/8995556@N05/E29S4r and I will post more photos that Alex took during the big day as he is able to upload them during his field season.  Birds we got have a dot next to them on the checklist and should at least have an attempt to cross them out.  Circled species were targets after Pueblo we had staked out.  Dickcissel was accidentally crossed off, but we did not have that.  Overall I think our 5 most surprising birds were: Dusky Grouse, Summer Tanager, Common Loon, Golden Eagle, and Broad-winged Hawk.  Our 5 worst misses were probably: Franklin's Gull, Yellow-headed Blackbird, Orange-crowned Warbler, Sora, and MacGillivray's Warbler.

Good Birding!

Andy Bankert

Fort Collins, CO

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