Saturday 18 July 2015

[cobirds] Pawnee National Grassland, Weld County

Hello all,

I spent July 16 and 17 on the Pawnee National Grassland. I did two non-overlapping loops in the western section, for a total of 132 miles. The following are some two-day totals: Lark Bunting-about 2500; Horned Lark-about 700; Grasshopper Sparrow-91; McCown's Longspur-55; Chestnut-collared Longspur-6; Sage Thrasher-20 (exact count), Western Meadowlark-about 270; Western Kingbird-about 160. I saw a male Bobolink in breeding plumage where Rd. 106 crosses Little Owl Creek just west of Rd. 37. There was an Upland Sandpiper in a meadow on the north side of Rd. 108 where it crosses Robinson Creek just east of Rd. 37. An Ash-throated Flycatcher was on Rd. 59 south of Rd. 120 where Rd. 59 crosses the West Fork of Willow Creek. I saw and heard 3 Dickissels, 1 along Rd. 71 south of Rd. 136, and 2 along Rd. 73 south of Rd. 110. There was much singing of Lark Buntings and McCown's Longspurs, but not as much skylarking as one might expect earlier in the season. Many Grasshopper Sparrows were singing, and there were many juveniles. Bidwell Lake, just southeast of Briggsdale on the east side of Rd. 79 had a small selection of shorebirds-Killdeer, Wilson's Phalarope, 1 American Avocet, 1 Baird's Sandpiper, 11 Lesser Yellowegs, 2 Greater Yellowlegs, 1 dowitcher sp. (perhaps Short-billed?) and a flock of 18 Stilt Sandpipers.

Bob Andrews
Malawi and Liberia, currently in the Denver area

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