I had a fun day birding the roads of Elbert County yesterday 4/22, focusing most of my time on the area east and south of the town Matheson, in the thumb of plains that forms the south part of the county, with a limited foray into pine forest in the western part of the county.
-- There is a moderate to low amount of water out there. Many man-made impoundments have water (most with no birds). The most significant streams (ELB style) have just small surface flows. But of the playas, I'd say no more than 15% have more than a puddle. The best water spots were a playa at CR 66 at 1.8 miles E of CR 149, a playa at the NW side of CR 74 x CR 169, a pond at CR 169 0.3 mile S of CR 74, a pond along CR 149 1.5 mile N of Matheson, and the pond along Hwy 86 several miles E of Kiowa (short way E of Freese Road x Hwy 86).
Perhaps the best bird from the county perspective was a male Ladder-backed Woodpecker in trees around a residence at CR 86 0.2 mile west of CR 181 (E of Matheson). Another good county bird was a female Red-naped Sapsucker at Horse Creek along CR 133 (south of Simla). And also good was what certainly seemed to be a Chihuahuan Raven at CR 173 between CRs 30 and 26 in the far south-central part of the county.
Other birds of interest, in more or less the order encountered...A Black-crowned Night-Heron was calling from a small pond at Kiowa before dawn. A pond along CR 149 1.5 miles north of Matheson had White-faced Ibis, and 2 Wilson's Snipes.
The playa at CR 66 at 1.8 mile E of CR 149 had a Mountain Plover, 1 Baird's Sandpiper, 9 Wilson's Phalaropes, both yellowlegs, and nice assortment of ducks. Along CR 66 at 3.0 miles E of CR 149 there is a heavily grazed pasture surrounded by harvested fields, and this area was attracting good numbers of both McCown's (predominant) and Chestnut-collared Longspurs. Several flocks were too far off to ID, so there could have been something more. 2 Mountain Plovers were in the grazed pasture.
Quite a few more McCown's and Chestnut-collared Longspurs were along CR 161 N of CR 66. The playa at CR 74 x CR 169 had Least Sandpipers, both yellowlegs, and a Baird's Sandpiper. The Pond at CR 169 just S of CR 74 had a Marbled Godwit, Spotted Sandpiper, Least Sadpipers, and both yellowlegs.
More McCown's Longspurs were along CR 181 at spots N and S of CR 74, and along CR 66 E of CR 169, and along CR 165 N of CR 66. Several seen this date were making repeated song flights. There is a band of good habitat from them extending east of Matheson to Lincoln Co. In addition tot he roads mentioned here, CR 197 also has good habitat.
I generally don't like to post about owl locations, but I will note that I encountered 7 species of owls in Elbert Co on this trip, which included nocturnal efforts. The interested reader can try to guess which species.
David Suddjian
Littleton, CO
Regular migrant landbirds were not too plentiful other than some good-sized flocks of Chipping Sparrows here and there, with maybe 400-500 for the day. Moderate numbers of Vesper Sparrows, 30-40 White-crowned Sparrows, a small number of Lincoln's Sparrows, a few Brewer's Sparrows, 1 Clay-colored Sparrow, 2 Lark Sparrows, 1 Savannah Sparrow, a smattering of Yellow-rumped Warblers, 1 Common Yellowthroat, 1 Hermit Thrush, a few Brown Thrashers and Nor. Mockingbirds, Rocks Wrens here and there sans rocks, American Pipits, Barn Cliff, Violet-green and Nor. Rough-winged Swallows, 1 Broad-tailed Hummingbird and more.
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